Back in Time
by DarkRose2009
Summary: Dumbledore's plan is to have Hermione use the Time-Turner, to go back in time, and to save Draco, and even possibly Tom Marvolo Riddle from Darkness and prejudices against the Muggles. She will discover astonishing things about these two while in the past. Rewrite of the 6th and 7th HG! DHMG!
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Dumbledore's plan is to have Hermione use the Time-Turner, to go back in time, and to save Draco, and even possibly Tom Marvolo Riddle from Darkness and prejudices against the Muggles. She will discover astonishing things about these two while in the past. Set between the 6th and the final book, rewrite of the 6th and 7th books, with my own ideas and interpretations of them.

Disclaimer: JKR owns the characters and HP, not me!

Hermione was doing her homework one afternoon, when she was summoned by the Headmaster. What did Dumbledore want from her? She silently wondered as she was on her way to see him. What could possibly be so urgent that he had to bother her while she was writing papers? And what could be more important than her school assignments? While she was mad at Dumbledore for this, she still went up to his office. After a while of walking, she was finally at his office's doorstep, Dumbledore had already opened the doors for her and greeted her warmly:

"Ahhh, so nice to see you, Miss Granger."

"Hello, Headmaster, may I know what's it about? Why did you call me up?" She was in fact, intrigued by that.

"Well, Miss Granger, I have a special mission for you. I don't know if you'll choose to accept or to refuse it, but I have a plan for our side, the Light. If you decide to accept my idea, however there might be greater chances for us to win and to prevent the war. "

"Yes, I'm all ears, what is your plan, Headmaster? But I just want to know, why me, why not Harry or Ron?"

"First, I chose you because you're the one I need for the mission, not Harry or Ron. By the way, you shouldn't tell either of them."

"And, what do you have in mind, Professor Dumbledore?"

"I'd like for you to use the Time-Turner, and to save Draco Malfoy and Tom Marvolo Riddle from darkness. And you will help them overcome their prejudices against Muggle-Borns and Muggles. And this is all for greater good, you understand, Miss Granger and this is why I chose you for this. I'm sure you will succeed where I failed."

"But, Headmaster, even we as wizards and witches, can't tamper with time and people's pasts?" She protested.

"Don't worry about that. No other soul will know besides us." reassured the Headmaster.

"I accept, Professor, but if I fail this, will there be any back up plans for us?" She was thinking about what ifs already in her head.

"Yes, but I am sure you will succeed."

And so, as planned with Professor Dumbledore, Hermione used the Time-Turner, to go back in Draco Malfoy's childhood, to try and see what caused him to hate the Muggle-Borns and Muggles so much, and to maybe prevent him from being a Death-Eater, like his father.

Back 10 years in the past, she found herself in Muggle London and in a random Muggle coffee shop, she ordered herself a Cappucino and sat down at a table. While she sipped her drink, she spotted the Malfoys: Lucius, Narcissa and their little boy, Draco, aged 5 or 6 right across her table. What in Merlin's beard where they doing there, in Muggle London, of all places? She thirsted to know.

Now she was watching them with curiosity, but discreetly, it was a disconsolating sight to behold: Draco Malfoy was barely able to drink and eat not using magic.

Please be kind enough to review (say if you want the next parts or not and etc…), thank you for your support and help! I can take constructive criticisms and honest thoughts about it.


	2. Chapter 2

She was not the only one who saw the Malfoys there, in the Muggle coffee shop. 3 Muggle boys and 3 Muggle girls, bigger and approximately 10 years older than Draco Malfoy, also noticed them and their unusual behaviour. They did not of course, know they were a wizarding family. They thought magic did not exist in this world. So they also were watching the family. The Malfoys paid them no mind.

One of them said:

"Look at their poor baby, not even able to eat and drink, he probably is home-schooled, he probably hasn't been to a kindergarden yet."

"Oh yeah, and their clothes, are off-putting, to say the least", added another Muggle girl.

"He's just a retard."

"Let's go over and say hi to them, okay?"

Hermione smelled trouble coming. "_How horrible these Muggles are!_" She thought to herself, having overheard their conversation. Before she could alert the shop's management, 3 Muggle boys walked over to the Malfoy's table. They snatched young Draco's drink and muffin away, and began putting food on his face and hair. Completely defenceless without a wand, Draco did not fight back. The girls chuckled at that, finding it totally hilarious. In their free time, those 6 Muggles liked to terrorize people, no matter whom. They were the bad boys and bad girls in their Muggle school.

"Draco, my boy, fight back, stand up against them!" Lucius Malfoy was encouraging his son. And Narcissa just sat there, watching the scene.

Hermione couldn't believe them! What kind of parents were they? Not helping their son, who obviously needed them? And could not fight them alone? Physically, Draco was no match for the Muggle boys, so he let them bully him. One boy opened his plastic cup, and poured it's content on his face. His face was now completely covered with whipped cream, coffee and caramel.

The managers were too busy serving customers, so they did not do anything about it. Hermione couldn't believe it. Furious, she went to the store's manager, and told them about the incident. She really hoped they would do something about it.

"Some older boys in their teens are bullying a younger boy, could you do something about it? She asked the cash girl.

"I'll go and get my manager, Miss." A few minutes later, a fat looking man came.

"What can I do for you, Miss?"

"I just saw 3 teenage boys harassing, and bullying a younger boy. This has to stop. Could you do anything about it?"

"Yes, right away, Miss, but where?"

She lead them to the Malfoy's table. The cash girl's manager saw what they were doing. He immediately said:

"Stop this, right now or you're out of the store!"He threatened the 3 teenagers. They did not even pay him any attention and they continued smearing food and drink all over Draco's face.

"I said, stop this now, or you'll never be allowed in my shop again." He finally got their attention.

"Fine sir, we're sorry, we were just having fun with the retard!"

His reply angered the cafe's boss:

"Don't you talk back to me like that! You're lucky I didn't call the police! OUT, everyone of you, GET OUT OF MY STORE AND NEVER COME BACK AGAIN!" he roared. The 3 boys and 3 girls all went out of the coffee place as fast as they could. He apologized to the Malfoys:

"We're sorry about that" And then to Draco:

"Well, my boy, why don't you go and wash your face!" Narcissa was trying her best to wipe his face with napkins, but it didn't work none too well.

"Thank you, Sir and Miss…?"

"Granger. Mr. and Mrs…?

"Malfoy."

She never knew the Malfoys could be so civil, polite and charming. The Malfoys she knew at Hogwarts were full of themselves, snob and cold._ "Well, this is refreshing" . _She thought inwardly.

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	3. Chapter 3

After a while, the Malfoys paid and left the Muggle coffee establishment and went on their merry way. Hermione who didn't finish her drink, decided to follow them and to eavesdrop on them. She was surprised to find out they had Muggle money. Where did they get them? And them being there in the cafe, hanging out in Muggle London, was a total mystery to her as well. She was determined to find out why they were there. But she didn't know she lacked time, as she's got only 5 hours to spend back around 1985-86, when Draco Malfoy was just a baby, an innocent child.

She followed them to Diagon Alley, and then to Knockturn Alley. There, she took out her wand, Transfigured her normal clothes into Wizards' robes and Quietened down her footsteps' sounds with '_Quietus_'. As she was a bit far away from them, so she also cast '_Sonorus_' on the Malfoys' voices, to be able to hear them more clearly:

"It was all your fault, Cissy Dear! It was your fine and great idea that we hanged out in Muggle London! Look at what happened to our son!" Malfoy Sr. was chastising his wife. Unshaken, she just said calmly:

"Look, the idea didn't come from me! It was the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot's decision that we Pure-bloods should take the time to get to know the Muggles more!" Narcissa responded in her defence.

"The Wizengamot, and the Ministry of Magic should be both under the Pure-bloods' control! Why did they suddenly decide such a thing? That we Pure-bloods should socialize with low-life Muggles and Muggle-borns? They just hate our guts, Cissy, they hate anything different from them!" Lucius was beside himself.

"Lucius, my dear, granted, the Muggles who humiliated Draco were the nasty, evil ones. But you can't judge them all by the actions of a few. The girl who saved our son was a good one. Besides, there is evil in both Wizards and Muggles, even in half-bloods and Squibs." She tried to reason with him, but Lucius Malfoy was a stubborn man, and refused to listen to his wife's rationalization.

He was hugely prejudiced against Muggles, and thought of them as inferior beings. And he was furious his son got ridiculed by a bunch of them. He was planning on punishing him for his cowardice. He hexed and jinxed his young son, in front of his wife, and a few other witches and wizards who were watching the scene.

"What's there to see? Scam!" The witches and wizards who were observing them all went away accordingly.

"I need to go to some antique shops like Cobb and Webb's, Borgins' and Burkes', Cissa." And he left, not saying a word to Draco Malfoy, who was still hexed and jinxed.

Hermione, who was observing them from her hideout, flabbergasted at Malfoy's father's cruelty towards him and at his mother's inability to protect him. She sounded like loving mother to her at Hogwarts. But appearances could be deceiving. She now knew she was a weakling, incapable of keeping her own flesh and blood safe from hurt and harm. She thought all mothers should be loving and caring, but Narcissa Malfoy proved otherwise. After her husband left though, she healed her son's minor injuries and lifted the hexes and jinxes inflicted on him by his own father.

Only after Lucius left them two alone, did she dare to speak up her personal thoughts on the matter. She told her Draco, who clenched himself onto her:

"One day, my darling, someday I will put him in jail, yes I will. Someday I will expose him to the World as a Death-Eater and someone who mentally and physically tortured his wife and son daily. My baby, it's because of him, that I miscarried your older sister. She would have been 7, if he didn't kill her in my womb. Some day, you wait and see, I'm going to avenge her death. I will give our family's Pensieve and my secret diary as testimonies of his crimes to the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot." Draco didn't say anything, he just listened to her raving quietly.

Hermione, taken aback by her soliloquy, had no idea Mrs. Malfoy hated her husband so much. "_He must have been terribly abusive to her, for her to hate him so. I must persuade her to help us gather evidence of him being a Death-Eater and convict him as fast as possible. But how to? He's still her husband and the father of her child after all." _

Hermione racked her brains to find a solution to this. Just then, she was brought back brutally and unexpectedly to the present, in 1996. It was an unpleasant experience for her. She asked herself: "Why…?" She found herself in Dumbledore's office.

"Hello, Professor, what's the matter?"

"Oh! Hello, Miss Granger, glad to see you back in the present with me. I forgot to tell you, each time I get you back in the past with the Time-Turner, you only have 5 hours, so please do try and make the most out of it."

She still felt a bit dizzy from her 5 hours time-travel, so she only nodded in response. "_Why didn't he tell me sooner?! He must be getting old and forgetful._" Before she could say anything more though, he continued with:

"I believe you have ample information now from the Malfoys' past to act upon. I think we should get Narcissa Malfoy to give us her Pensieve, her secret diary as proofs for Lucius Malfoys' crimes and these should be enough to sentence him for life in Azkaban and he wouldn't be around Draco Malfoy to influence him anymore."

"But how, Professor?" She was burning to know.

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	4. Chapter 4

"First, Miss Granger, let me tell you something more about Narcissa Black's marriage to Lucius Malfoy."

"Why, what does it have to do with anything?" asked a very confused and perplexed Hermione.

"Because this is what we're going to use as a bait, to get the two much needed items in question in our hands, Miss Granger." Another person would have been exasperated at Hermione's endless questioning, but Dumbledore wasn't. He loved curious people such as she. Besides, this was key information she needed to know to help Narcissa and Draco over to the Light.

"Oh." She simply said in response to that.

"So, as I was saying, I am going to tell you a bit more about Narcissa's marriage to Lucius Malfoy, and etc… little things you must understand in order to know why this is going to make her agree to hand us over her precious objects on a silver platter."

"Yes Headmaster, I'm listening." She asked him no more questions.

"All things began when she was betrothed to Lucius Malfoy, when she was merely a teenager herself. This was arranged between the House of Blacks and Malfoys, the two most prominent Pure-blood families in the Wizarding world. But what you should really know is, that she was forced by her own parents, under the Imperius Curse, to make the Unbreakable Vow at her wedding with Lucius, with Severus Snape as their Bonder. Before you ask what is it, I'm going to tell you: it is a Vow that cannot be broken, and if a partner broke his or her part of the deal, he or she dies.

"How is this going to help us at all, I'm not quite following—" However, the Headmaster cut her off.

"You may ask questions, after I finish my tale, Miss Granger. So she was coerced into an unwanted marriage, by her own family. She cannot divorce him, unless she dies, because she made the Unbreakable Vow with her husband, although unwillingly. So the only way for her and her son to be free from their tormentor, is to put him in Azkaban, like she swore she would do when Draco was merely a kid. It is, also an illegal marriage, as her parents used the Imperius Curse on her to make her agree to it. She still resents them for this and to avenge herself, won't hesitate to get both her mother and father in Azkaban, as I've heard from Severus."

"And how, exactly, are we going to use this to get what we need, Professor? I still don't understand?"

"Now, let me tell you about the idea Severus Snape and I had agreed on to get her to cooperate with us. I know Snape regularly visits the Malfoys and knows about her diary and the family's Pensieve. He is the person she trusts the most in the whole world and who's on our side. He's the one who's going to persuade Mrs. Malfoy to hand these two items to the Wizengamot to incriminate Mr. Malfoy, so Draco and her could be safe from him. As I am Chief Warlock in the Wizengamot, she can give them to me first, and I will then hand them over to the Wizards' supreme court."

"How awful for Mrs. Malfoy! I never knew her parents did such inhuman things to her! But, can we trust Snape? How can we be sure she will agree to it?" These were her only objections to the plan after hearing the heart-wrenching tale.

"Not to worry about it. She will agree to it, and even give me the two items on her very own accord, since her most ardent wish now is to be free of her abusive marriage with her husband and she wants to save Draco from his father's clutches as well. I am most certain all this will go smoothly because she is a mother and loves her son just as much as Lily Potter loved Harry, your friend. Severus will just need to make her see that incriminating her husband is the only way protect her son from his evil father and her only way to freedom."

"How do you know so much… I am entirely baffled."

"I have my secrets, Miss Granger. Meanwhile, as for you, you should try and gather evidence that Draco Malfoy has indeed been physically and mentally mistreated by his own father. I'm going to answer your question before you even ask it, how? He treats his light injuries himself every night at 11 p.m in the Slytherin's Prefects' bathroom, with a minor healing spell, but he cannot heal the more permanent ones, inflicted by his father in the Summer. You will try and catch him taking off his robes, and take a picture of his scars on his back. We will use this as evidence against his father if the elaborated scheme with his mother fails."

"Yes I understand now, Headmaster, it's all greatly thought-out. I suppose you know this much, because Professor Snape told you."

"Yes, it is correct. Now good luck with your 2nd mission and good night, Miss Granger."

After her meeting and discussing with Professor Dumbledore, she couldn't fall asleep. She was thinking, over and over again about the plan and about it's chances of succeeding. _Would Mrs. Malfoy really agree to it, like Dumbledore said or would she flat out refuse it? _She tossed and tossed around in bed, with these worries plaguing her mind.

Review please, what did you HONESTLY think of this chapter and this fanfic on the whole? Good, bad, or it really sucked? I don't mind harsh and constructive criticism. I need some encouragements to continue this please, thank you for reading and reviewing it!


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, a Friday, Hermione was unable to concentrate in classes at all, due to her lack of sleep the night before on Thursday. During classes, she was quiet and did not raise her hand to answer questions at all. This caused her best friends, Harry and Ron to worry about her health. So, during lunchtime, they asked her, concerned for her well-being:

"Hermione, you look so pale and very tired. Is something the matter?" Ron was first to ask her.

"No, everything is fine, I just got lots of things on my mind, like my studies and everything." She outright lied to him, but Harry wasn't fooled:

"You have dark circles and bags under your eyes, come on, tell us what's wrong, maybe we can help."

"Nothing is wrong, Harry! Look, I appreciate your concerns about me, but really, I am fine! Don't argue with me, I know my body more than you two do!" She continued defending herself and reassuring them nothing was wrong with her.

"All right, fine, we won't argue with you, but something is definitely up." said Ron stubbornly.

"No, just leave me alone for a while, please, you two, give me some "me" time! I have schoolwork to do!"

"All right, fine, we'll be leaving for Quidditch practice, just don't work yourself to death, Hermione! You should take good care of yourself!"

"Yes, I will and thank you for being worried about me."

After she was finally alone, she was thinking about how her secret missions affected her friendship with Harry and Ron. But then again, she promised Dumbledore she wouldn't tell them anything. And then she rationalized, this was for greater good, as the Headmaster would say. She hoped she could complete her tasks successfully and quickly, so she could stop lying to her two best friends, because she felt really guilty for doing that to them, they did not deserve this, they were, after all, merely looking out for her, that was why they asked about her health and she truly appreciated that. It meant, as friends, they really cared for her, and it was their care about her that was weighing so heavily on her mind.

But, after some time, she stopped feeling guilty about that. She reasoned this way with herself: she was doing this all for them, for Harry and Ron and countless other people to be safe from the Dark Side and You-know-who. And she promised Dumbledore she wouldn't breath a word to them. Instead, she focused more on her missions and on how she was going to accomplish them. The more she thought about that, the less she was thinking about Harry and Ron's worry about her.

"_So, Professor Dumbledore wants me to take a picture of Malfoy's back scars, eh? How in Merlin's pants I am going to do that? Firstly, I'll need Slytherin's Prefect's bathroom's password, to follow him in and then I'll need to be hidden from his view while he's going to be doing whatever in the bathroom. I need to discuss things further with the Headmaster on how this should be done." _

With these thoughts in her head, she went to see the Headmaster once more. She said: "Lemon Drops" to the Gargoyle guarding his office.

"Hello, it seems to me we haven't planned it out as thoroughly as I thought, so sorry to bother you again, Professor." He wasn't bothered at all, he was in fact, pleased to see her.

"Yes, what is it, my dear?"

"Professor, firstly, I'll need the Slytherin's Prefect's bathroom to take pictures of him while he's naked inside, and second, what if Malfoy saw me in the bathroom, everything will be ruined if he did…?"

"Ahhh, I see, that. Professor Snape, the Head of Slytherin's House, will provide you with the Slytherin's Prefect bathroom's password, and I'll be casting a powerful Disillusionment Charm on you, so he wouldn't be able to spot you so easily in the bathroom, but please be fast, because after two hours, the Charm will wear off. And there's your magical Camera." The old and wise wizard explained further more to his student.

"Thank you, but I have another question, how can we prove it's Lucius Malfoy who did this to his son?"

"This is a special magical Camera, Miss Granger. Pictures taken with it can also record what the person on the photo said. I'm certain Mr. Malfoy Jr. will rant and complain about his father while he's mending his less serious injuries in the bathtub."

"Perfect then."

"Don't worry, there aren't any flaws in the plan. And by the way, Severus is going to the Malfoys' this week-end, having been invited by Narcissa Malfoy herself to a private face-to-face discussion as Lucius's been violent to her all week because his business hasn't been going all that well. Under a vast and intense amount of pressure and stress, she's more likely going to agree to it. Severus will just have to tell her it's the only way she could have her freedom, and that's it. I think you should yours on Monday, after we know if he's succeeded or failed?

"Yes, I agree, I'm going to need some rest as well, and I don't want Ron and Harry to worry anymore about me."

"I wish you both good luck with it." The Headmaster said sincerely.

Saturday came, she was waiting impatiently to be called in Dumbledore's office again, for news about Severus Snape's part. While waiting, she made the bags and dark circles under her eyes disappear with some beautifying Charms, to avoid questions from her friends. She worked on her papers all day long till the evening.

Finally, in the evening, she got called to the Headmaster's again, while she was writing an essay for Transfiguration. When she got there, Severus Snape was already there, raging at the Headmaster. She surmised something didn't go according to the plan.

"That obstinate Lady Malfoy, she won't give me her memories from the family's Pensieve, no matter what I said! And why? Because she fears her husband would be furious if he found out she tampered with it. I tried as hard as I could to convince her, but she wouldn't, saying he'd punish her if she did! I should have drank a luck potion or worn a Persuasion Charm before going! But I got her private diary, that I did and she willingly gave it to me, since she kept it secret from him!"

"Don't blame yourself, that's not your fault at all, Severus, you really did everything you could. And we really can't have her tortured to death by her husband while she's the one doing us a favour! At the very least, we got her personal diary! Is it Charmed so only she could read it or others can too?"

"It was, though she lifted the Charm on it since this would serve as a witness to Lucius's cruelty to her: everything from her forced, illegal marriage to him, to her baby daughter's miscarriage is in it. I think it's going to be enough to prove his violence against her."

Both stopped talking to each other, when they saw Hermione standing there.

"Professor Snape, Dumbledore. I promise my part of the Mission will be flawlessly perfect."

"I'm not expecting anything less from you, Miss Granger." said Dumbledore.

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	6. Chapter 6

Sunday she spent it with her friends, Harry and Ron. Her mood was snappy, irritable. And she was nervous and stressed by what she was going to do on Monday night. She couldn't even enjoy the walk on Hogwarts' grounds with her friends. She was so worried about Monday. "_How is it going to pan out? Is everything going to be all right?" _She was constantly thinking this when she was with Harry and Ron.

So they noticed something different about her, they frowned and asked:

"You told us nothing was wrong with you, there definitely is something wrong. You're not even able to relax, Hermione! We brought you out there to take your mind off studying things, so you could be less stressed!" said Harry, noticing his friend's irritability.

"I'm just nervous for the exams, that's all." She tried to cover herself up, but it didn't work on either of them.

"What? It's ages away, Hermione, in June! We're in what, March?!"

"No, it's not "ages" away, Ron, we've got only 3 months! I've already begun studying for them, as you should, too." Hermione hoped he won't be asking her anymore questions regarding her.

"What?! Bloody Hell, Hermione, no wonder why you're so tired! Can't you just enjoy the moment for a while?" asked Ron.

"No, I have to get top marks, to beat Malfoy in everything, to prove to the Wizarding World I am the best witch of the year, even though I am a Muggle-Born!"

"Yeah, typical Hermione." muttered Harry under his breath. She heard it.

"I heard that. I'd advise you two to start preparing for the Finals too, to get the best marks possible!" She chastised them.

"Yes, Hermione, but you should cut some too slack with your overstudying." Ron advised her.

"No, Ron, I can't. Discussion about my studies is now closed."

Sunday night she still couldn't sleep, reflecting about what she was about to do on Monday, the next day._ "Is is even legal to spy on someone's privacy?" _This question was throttling on her mind incessantly the night before she was going to complete her mission. On Monday, she went to classes (Charms, Potions, Defence against the Dark Arts), studied after classes, and took a Magically Relaxing Bubble Bath to empty her mind, but she was still a bit stressed afterwards. She was repeating this all evening, to prepare herself for the task:

"Okay, don't panic, I'll need to Quieten my footsteps, get to Dumbledore's at 10:45 for the Disillusionement Charm and I'll need to Silence my camera with a Silencing Charm." She was talking to herself in the Gryffindor's Prefects' bathroom to calm herself down. She checked her watch, out of nervousness, it read: 10:45 P.M. Having done all she needed to do, she was ready when she went to Dumbledore's office for the Disillusionement Charm.

"Good evening, Miss Granger. Let me cast it on you, now!" And she was Charmed. Her body took the colours of the office's surroundings: mainly gold and red.

"Thank you, Headmaster."

"Good luck to you."

As she went to the Slytherin's Prefects' bathrooms, she was like a Chameleon, taking whatever colours her surroundings were. When she got in the Bathroom with the password "Pure-Blood", she was all green and silver, Slytherin's colours, and also the Bathroom's. Camera in hand, she waited for Draco Malfoy to get there.

And indeed, Draco Malfoy, as predicted by the Headmaster, was there to treat his injuries after 10 long minutes of waiting. She was disgusted by what she saw on his back after he took off his robes: some of them scars were covered with dark blood, some with slugs and leeches coming out from them eating away his skin. He tried as much as he could to heal these, but the slugs and leeches just won't go away. It was some Dark Spells, she was certain, but what? That was the question. She watched him struggling with these Dark scars. "_How can he live with these daily? Why doesn't he just go to the infirmary? Probably he doesn't want to be questioned about them. Poor Malfoy._" She was thinking mentally, since she couldn't speak because she cast "Silencio" on herself before going in. Pity and sympathy stirred in her compassionate and kind heart.

"WHY, FATHER, DO I DESERVE ALL THIS?!" He roared like an enraged animal. She took the picture right after he said these words. _"This would be enough to arrest Lucius Malfoy"_, she kept her thoughts in her head, having no love for the man who tortured on a daily basis her arch-nemesis.

Fascinated by Draco's wounds, she lingered there a while longer than she should, more than an hour, so the Quietening Charm wore off. Now, when she walked, her footsteps could be heard loudly and clearly, but he still couldn't see her, as the Disillusionment Charm was still on. "_Oh Merlin_". She fled the bathrooms, knowing he heard her.

"Who is in there? Show yourself, now!" demanded Draco Malfoy. He ran after her, without robes on him, but didn't get her, as she was already far away from the place, having used a "Quickening Charm" on her. She ran all the way to the Headmaster's to give him back the Camera. Malfoy, as he realized he was naked, ran back to the Bathrooms for his clothes and gave up on chasing her.

Surprisingly, she found Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy already there, pleading with Dumbledore. She heard her say desperately:

"Please, save Draco, my poor son! Albus, I know you know Lucius has been torturing him at home, and he's been able to get away with it, because he's donating money to the Ministry and the Wizengamot. Because of that, they don't want to do anything about him, as Lucius is a steady source of income for them."

"I understand, Narcissa, don't worry. We'll find a way, you can directly file a lawsuit against him, with your diary as an eye-witness and I have something more that could help us win the case against your husband, agh, Miss Granger, I'm happy you could join us, have a seat, please. Do you have it?" He Summoned a chair from the back of his office for her.

"Yes I do, here's your Camera. I suppose the Silencing Charm I've put on it is off now. He almost caught me, but I escaped in time."

"I believe you've already met Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother. Narcissa, Miss Hermione Granger. She's been assisting me with incriminating Lucius Malfoy."

To her shock, Narcissa Malfoy, rather than calling her names or whatever, hugged her. She said to her:

"Thank you for trying to help us, despite Draco's animosity and hostility towards you. I hope he'll be thankful to you for everything you're doing for him, put aside our past differences and my wish as a mother, first and foremost, is for him to cooperate with us all, to get him out of harm's way."

"Now now, please, Ladies, you'll have time to chat later, but I believe Miss Granger has something very important to tell us."

A very excited Hermione answered him: "Yes, in the picture I took of him, he was asking himself: "_Why Father, do I deserve this?!_". I think this alone is going to be enough to charge Mr. Malfoy with physical ill-treatment of his son and use of Dark Magic on a human being."

"Yes, you're right, Miss Granger. And, Mrs. Malfoy, is everything ready on your side of things?"

"Yes, Albus, I've got everything, even the memories Severus has asked of me."

HELLO, REVIEWS PLEASE? I'm running out of ideas, please help, thanks! I sincerely need your help to improve my writing, as I'm a fanfic writer, I'm not making any money out of writing, but it's for my own pleasure to write, and yours to read. So be kind enough to leave me some REVIEWS! CLICK THE REVIEW BUTTON AFTER YOU'VE READ IT, THANK YOU!


	7. Chapter 7

During the next few days, after meeting up with Hermione Granger and talking with the Headmaster, Narcissa Malfoy sent a package to her son via owling, containing a letter and some healing ointment. She wished to discuss with him about some things face-to-face, yet couldn't because she was at home, in the Malfoy Manor. She put a variant of the Concealing Charm on her letter, so only it's recipient could read it's content, to prevent other people, the wrong people, from reading it. To all people other than it's intended recipient, it would be just a blank parchment.

This was what Draco Malfoy read, upon getting it:

"_My Dearest Dragon, how have you been, at Hogwarts? And don't you lie to me, don't be afraid to say the truth. I know you're not entirely happy about being beaten by a Muggle-Born, or Potter or Weasley, as you'd constantly complain about them in your letters to me. But, it's at least, safer than at home. At home, where your father could torture you at his leisure, where I am forced to watch you suffer as your mother, my dear heart. And really, I've had enough of this. It's time someone taught him a lesson. _

_But before that, I need to tell you some things, some things I've been keeping secret from you. I've been betraying the Dark Lord, and your father. I've been helping the Light side as well. Let me tell you why, now before you say I've gone mad as you're reading this. All my actions, my love are motivated by my want to protect you, to make you safe, as a mother, because I love you, you are the only good thing that came out of my marriage. _

_As you know, my marriage was arranged when I was about your age, 16, while, a_s for my crazy sister and your aunt, Bella, at that time, things were being negotiated between the Lestranges and us, the Blacks, but she already gave her soul and love to the Dark Lord. B_ut I need to tell you something else, I was forced into marrying your father by my own parents. I wasn't in love with him because I knew his true nature, so they've used the Imperius Curse on me, to make me agree to it, to get me to make an Unbreakable Vow to your Father on my wedding day. Your father, after marrying me, also used Imperio on me, to make me do his every biding as well, like making me bang my head on the wall, or making me beat myself up. And he loved using it to satisfy his sexual urges. I couldn't say no to him, so he took often took advantage of me sexually. After some repeated rapes, I conceived a daughter, named Auriga Malfoy. Needless to say, he was furious. On the day she was supposed to be born, I miscarried her, due to his tormenting me physically, and due to me being extremely fatigued, the medi-witch said. I would never forgive him for that. I swore to avenge her death and I will._

_After 2 years of marriage to him, I finally conceived a son, a Heir to the Malfoy line, you. I had some months of peace, but this didn't last long, as he continued to sexually assault me, even using some Dark Magic on me while he was having sex with me. I cannot call it "making love" because I didn't love him. So I was forced against my will to sleep with him, night after night. It was infernal. But as long as he didn't do any harm to you, my Dragon, I am willing to endure and suffer anything, for you, my baby._

_I do hope you will understand my reasons for helping the light side and Dumbledore. My reasons are because I love you. I can't stand to watch it when he does all these things to you, especially when he's using Dark Spells on you, my Dragon. Yes, forgive me for rambling in the letter. What was I going to say? You must be confused as to why I'm talking about Dumbledore now. Why indeed? Well, I am talking about him, because I am right now filing a lawsuit against Lucius Malfoy, my husband and your father, and I need to gather any evidence I can against him, to win the case against him. I really want him in Azkaban for life, for everything he's done to you and me, so I am not taking any chances; I gave every shred of proof against his crimes to Dumbledore, including my own diary and memories from the family Pensieve. _

_Actually, it was Uncle Sev, your Godfather, who suggested that I sought protection from Dumbledore, and that I testified against him and that I exposed him as a Death-Eater. I thought this was brilliant, as I would not die, since I just made the Vow to not divorce him, I did not promise to not betray him. I just didn't have the courage to, but now that I have the Light side's and Dumbledore's help, I can finally do what I swore to do: avenge your sister Auriga's death._

_And yes, another thing, before I start rambling again, I know you know someone was in the Slytherin's Prefects' bathrooms when you were taking care of your scars that Monday night. The person was Hermione Granger, the Muggle-Born you've always hated, and you've written to me about in your owls. She was there, on Dumbledore's orders, to get evidence against your father's brutality. So please, don't hate her or blame Dumbledore for this, she did this for your own sake, regardless of all your arrogance towards her. I really wish you could make peace with her, she is a very courageous, and brave girl... At least, call her a Muggle-Born, not a Mudblood, please, do it for me. How do I know this? Because she was there, when I was asking Dumbledore for his help. They've all been working so hard to protect us, to give us back our freedom! Since, we're all in this together, I do hope you won't hold it against her for spying on you and that you'll be with us, not against us in this. I am waiting for your answer, and these were the things I wished to talk to you about. Here they are in this letter. And I do hope you'll forgive me, for doing this behind your back. If you knew earlier what I was up to, you wouldn't agree to it and would probably be on your dad's side. And yes something for your scars in this package, I believe this would be more efficient than the spells you've been using on them. _

_And please imagine, Draco, to be free from him forever, to have the right to decide for ourselves!"_

_P.S.: I want Hermione to read my letter, as I trust her. _

_Mother, who's doting on you, always. _

_Narcissa Black Malfoy."_

Draco Malfoy read the letter to the end. Everything in it, were shocking news to him. He never knew his mother knew about the scars on his back. He knew she knew about the minor ones, yet he's never shown her the more serious ones. More surprising things for him, his mother was suing his father! His whole world was suddenly turned upside down! How could she do this without telling him?!

And to top it all, Hermione Granger, the Gryffindor Muggle-born he despised the most, saw his scars! He was wondering how he was going to answer his mother and what the Mudblood thought of him now. Did she pity him or was she indifferent to his sufferings? Probably she pitied him since she was in the plan too.

He just couldn't believe it as he re-read the letter again, and again and again. He weighed his options: to live forever in his Father's shadows, under his authority, or to be free from him forever, like his mother said they'd be if he also, acted as an eye-witness against his father in this lawsuit. His mother's words played on his mind. If his father was indeed convicted, he would be able to get his freedom, he would be able to do what he wanted.

But then again, he regarded his father highly. He was his role-model. When he was young, he often got bullied by some Muggles and his father would protect him against them by beating them up. He really wanted to be like him when he was growing up as a child. It was a hard choice to make for him: his mother or his father!

Both indulged him, and even somewhat protected him in his childhood. But finally, he decided to not go against his Mother's wishes, who treated him more gently and with kindness. His father never knew anything but violence, and so he was a brute, a Monster himself, to anyone. When he was in public, he restrained himself for public appearances.

So after his initial shock, he replied to his mother, using the same Charm Narcissa used on the owl, after thinking about it over and over again:

"_Mother Dearest, _

_Of course, after carefully reading your letter and deep thinking, I've chosen to help you testify against my father. And I'm sorry, I was such an immature, spoiled brat! I never knew you suffered this much for me! I now can understand your choices, why you decided to file a lawsuit against him. It's because you can't stand him any longer._

_I too, dream of freedom of choices, and of decisions… to be able to decide and live for myself, and not for him, to do the right things, and not the wrong things. In truth, I've been fantasizing about this since I was 11, my first year at Hogwart, when he ordered me to befriend Potter. I wanted to defy him, but I was scared to, like you were, Mother. How awful it must be to live in constant terror, like you! _

_I am so very, very sorry, for being such a selfish prat, always complaining to you about things not being 100% perfect at Hogwarts, while you endured this all for me, in secret. I've never thought once about you, how you felt and how you were! But I don't think you know everything he's done to me. Like how he used Crucio and Imperio on me as well when I was around 7 or 8, I can't remember. He loved to humiliate me with either of them often, after I've been beaten by Muggles. And he would verbally abuse me too, saying I was useless and good for nothing. _

_Like you, I am really tired of all this. I wish this could end some day. If you're saying me testifying against him could help you win the case and free us from his grasp, I would be more than glad to be of help and I would be with you in this. After all, I've been such a spoiled, immature prat. I owe it to you, Mother. Because you were there, always, when everything was so Dark around me. And who was there whenever he punished me after I've done something wrong, in his eyes, or after the Muggles attacked, ridiculed me? You, always you. Because I am grateful to you for all you've done for me, I will help you help me, and join the Light's cause. _

_So yes, if you desire freedom as much as I, let's do this together. As for Granger, I promise to try and be more polite to her in school, but she might find it suspicious of me, so I'll be confronting her about all of this scheming behind my back with Dumbledore. _

_But I never thought you'd seek Dumbledore's help, no matter what my Godfather says about him, I don't trust him. He's far too Muggle-loving. And thank you for the Healing ointment, I will make good use of it. Thank you above all, for looking after me, ever since I was born. How could I ever repay my debt to you? _

_Your son, who loves you. _

_Draco Malfoy._

As he was writing this to his mother and sending it to her using his owl, Hermione Granger's thoughts, after a heavy day of lessons and homework load, shifted to Draco Malfoy, the one she was trying to save from Darkness. She really wished he was safe too, from his daily torment. She no longer saw him as an arrogant, spoiled, Pure-Blood prat after she's seen what he was putting up with everyday of his life. She thought he was only scared of his father. But if his Mother was going to openly fight against his father, maybe he was going to side with her, maybe not. She couldn't know for sure.

One night, when she was doing her Prefect duties with Ron, she was ambushed by Draco Malfoy.

"Granger, may I have a word with you, right now?"

"What do you need to say, Ferret boy, say it in front of her and me!" Ron challenged him. He completely ignored him and pulled Hermione apart.

"Yeah, what could you possibly want from me, Malfoy?" She asked with defiance in her voice.

"I really need to talk to you in private about something really important." Draco Malfoy gave her his Mother's letter.

"What's this for, Malfoy? It's blank parchment?" She was confused.

"Oh, it's my mother's letter to me. Let me remove the Concealing Charm she put on it."

"Why are you giving me this?"

"A second, please Granger. Read what she's written to me." Words slowly appeared on the parchment, after he cast the Revealing Charm on it. It was signed with Mrs. Malfoy's very elegant handwriting.

"Okay, and?" She did as she was told.

"How long have you known about me being tortured and everything? Answer me with honesty."

"And if I don't want to?" She retorted hotly._ "The nerve of this guy, asking me to answer him honestly, so haughtily and ungratefully!"_ She thought.

"Answer me, please. I need to know how much you know, so we could work effectively as a team."

"Now that's better. Yes I've been mandated by Headmaster Dumbledore to help you and your mother to the light side, ever since the very beginning of all this."

"And how did it begin?" He was interrogating her now. She didn't like his tone of voice.

"I will not tell you anything more if you're not more polite to me when asking me questions."

"So, please tell me, how did everything begin?"

"Go ask Professor Dumbledore. I don't even know everything myself. I don't know what he's got in store for me."

"For how long have you known me to be tortured by my father, and how much have you heard the night you were in the Slytherin's Prefects' Bathrooms?"

"Since the beginning of my secret missions with Dumbledore, and that night, I was too busy watching your scars to really pay attention to what you said. And I've only heard when you screamed: 'Why, father, do I deserve this?' That's all, nothing major."

"Yes, so are you really going to help us testifying against him with that picture you took?"

"Yes."

"How are you going to cover yourself up at my father's hearing for invasion of privacy?"

"Oh, I haven't thought about that."

"Granger, the know-it-all, doesn't know something? Really funny." He commented on her last answer to him.

"Insufferable, arrogant, slimly git, and Pure-Blood douchebag!" She responded to his name-calling.

"That's more like the Granger I know! Now I have an ideal solution for this: I will say I myself asked my Godfather, Severus Snape, to take that photo for me as proof of his guilt."

Realizing he was not so serious about the name-calling; he was only teasing and baiting her with it, she calmed herself down and asked him, inquiringly:

"Why are you... helping me, all of a sudden? I really don't get you?!"

"Didn't you read the owl? My Mother's asked me to be civil to you, and as we're all in this altogether, we should help each other as much as possible, not get in each other's ways. By the way, on her behalf, I thank you for everything you did for us."

"No need, go and thank Professor Dumbledore, he's the one who chose me for this."

"Very well and I'll be nice to you only when we're alone. In front of others, I'd still call you Mudblood, to not arouse anyone's suspicion."

"So, a private truce of some kind between us, Malfoy?"

"Yes, I'd like that, but what do you think?"

"Yeah, I agree with it."

READ AND REVIEW IF YOU WANT MORE CHAPTERS, THANK YOU! Your reviews mean A LOT to me, and you will see the bigger picture once everything is done and finished, thank you for your support throughout my story. The next chapter will be mainly about Lucius Malfoy's hearing and trial to Azkaban, and out of Mrs. Malfoy's and Draco's lives.


	8. Chapter 8

Two days passed since Draco Malfoy had his first civil talk with Hermione Granger, his fellow classmate and Prefect. He got another short owl from his mother, this time in response to his letter to her:

"_To: Mr. Draco Malfoy, Slytherin's dormitory, bed 7_

_Hello, my Dragon, I am heartily relieved you have chosen me over your father. You don't need to apologize to me for anything: I am your Mother, you don't owe me anything, my dear. I feared you'd side with him and tell him everything I've been trying to do in secret. And about that, I wish to tell you some good news: your Father__'__s been seized away by Ministry and Wizengamot's representatives and his Hearing will be scheduled on March 23rd, about 10 days from now. I just got an owl yesterday about that from the Ministry and the Wizengamot. With Dumbledore presiding over it, I'm sure it will be brief and soon enough, he will be Tried at the Supreme Wizarding Court. Please tell Miss Granger about that, as she will be attending it too, but not a word to your Slytherin "friends" about it. _

_And how are things, with Miss Hermione Granger? And do you need more ointment? If you do, don't hesitate to tell me."_

_All my love, as always, your Mother._

_From: _

_Narcissa Black Malfoy."_

As he was reading it, he could feel his mother's excitement and intense love for him. In his heart, he thanked her for being there, always to support him, to love and care for him. She loved him naturally, he didn't need to prove himself to her, like always he had to with his father. He wrote back to her:

"_To: Narcissa Black Malfoy, Malfoy Manor_

"_My Dearest Mother, _

_Thank you for your concern, but I have enough ointment until Father's hearing. Uncle Sev's been applying them on my scars, and there are no more slugs or leeches coming out from them, although some are still bleeding Dark blood. Do you have anything stronger for these? I think Father used some darker jinxes and hexes on my back for these, your ointment doesn't seem to work on them. Sev's applied more on them, but still, the Dark blood kept coming from these open wounds. _

_And yes, things have progressed between us, Granger and I. I will tell her about the hearing. As for the picture of my scars, I will say I asked Uncle Sev to take it for me, specifically for proof against my Father's use of Dark Magic on me. And Sev's agreed to it too, when I talked things over with him. _

_Always your son, _

_From: Draco Malfoy." _

In the afternoon on the day he sent his owl to his Mother, he had Potions with the Gryffindors. Slughorn was telling them to make a Beffudlement Draught, one that made the drinker reckless and belligerent. Hermione, he saw, was just starting to put the ingredients necessary for the Potion in her Cauldron, and she was just a few seats away from him. He himself, was absent-mindedly playing with the plants as he was pondering about how to tell her about his father's hearing without having to face Weasley and Potter. At last, he got it: during the 15 minutes break, he was going to secretly slip a note in Granger's Potion book.

Professor Slughorn now took to inspecting each pupil's Potion. As he was near Granger, he complimented on her perfectly brewed Beffudlement Draught. When he came to inspect his, however, he saw he almost burnt himself with the inflammatory herbs. He told him:

"What's the matter, you're usually an excellent potion-brewer, Mr. Malfoy."

"Sorry Sir, I was just deep in thoughts. It won't happen again, I promise."

"I won't be giving you detentions, however, you'll have to make this Potion as your homework."

"Yes, Professor." He merely said as he didn't want any additional workload. "_Only Granger would be crazy enough to ask for more schoolwork"_, he silently thought to himself.

When it was break time, he quickly wrote a note to Granger: _"Mother says Father's hearing will be held on March 23rd."_ And as usual, he Concealed it's content so only she could read it, and while the other students went to the bathrooms and when the classroom was almost empty, he put it in her Potions book. After break, Hermione effectively found it in her Potions' tome. She read it in class, and if she had any reactions at all to it after scurrying it, her face was expressionless.

"_Intelligent girl, she should have been put in Slytherin or Ravenclaw_." He thought in his mind._"What I am thinking, this is Granger, the infuriating, Know-it-all, bookworm… and Muggle-born… But you can't deny she's smarter than you and not to mention, prettier, kinder, braver and more noble than any Slytherin girl. The Slytherin Pure-blood girls only want to be with you because they're after your social status and your money." _the voice inside his head argued with him mentally. "No stop it, already."

After Potions, in the evening, he had a Prefect meeting with her and her annoying sidekick, Ronald Weasley. _"Funny Potter wasn't made one". _He always thought inwardly.

He was icy to Hermione the next few days before his Father's hearing. He didn't get any occasions to call her a Mudblood and didn't get in any verbal skirmishes with Ron and Harry. This aroused Harry's already suspicious mind. He was discussing this with Ronald Weasley, his best mate:

"Something's weird about Malfoy, he never once insulted us and didn't call Hermione any names." Harry said to Ron.

"Ferret boy must be up to something, real fishy, mate. He usually is quiet if there's something big coming." That was Ron's explanation to Harry's questioning about Malfoy's odd behaviour towards them.

And Ron's explanation proved to be true, as Harry was reading an article in _The Daily Prophet _on the Thursday before Mr. Malfoy Sr.'s hearing_, _under the category :_"Incredibly astounding Wizarding News" _and untitled: "Mrs. Malfoy's Chronicles._" _

He read it wholly to Ron and out loud:

"_Mrs. Malfoy, Draco Malfoy's Mother, will be testifying against Mr. Malfoy, her husband on this March 23rd at the Supreme Wizarding Court: the Wizengamot. She was already suing him long before this date, but preferred to keep things quiet. Now that she thinks she's got everything under her control, she agreed to disclose every detail to the public eye. It is indeed a sensational scoop for us all. This is just a snippet of the interview I, Rita Skeeter, as a leading journalist in the Prophet, got with her: _

'_Mrs. Malfoy, let me start this interview with: for how long have you wanted to press charges against your husband for domestical violence, torture and use of Dark Magic on your young son, Draco Malfoy? And how did Mr. Malfoy react, when the Ministry came into your Manor and seized him away from his ancestral home?_

'_I have waited for this moment for 15 long years, under his physical, verbal and mental torment, and his control. And let me just say: he reacted so very badly to it, even threatened some Ministry and Wizengamot officials when they came to take him away from me, but they Disarmed him, so he couldn't do anything to me or them.' _

'_And why have you decided to suddenly let the world know about his cruel behaviours towards you and your son?' _

'_One, because I as a Mother, wish to protect my son from any harm, and I feel I have done a poor job as his only protector from this very bad societal role-model. And two, because I want the world to know what kind of a man he really is.' _

'Let me ask you now: w_ho is the real Lucius Malfoy, to me and any outsider, he seems to be a very loving, and caring husband and father to his son and wife?' _

'_Appearances, could be deceiving, my dear Rita. He does everything solely for social status, money and prominence in the Wizarding World. He doesn't feel anything for his wife and son. He is an extremely dark and evil man. I want him removed from our lives, permanently.'_

'_Now please tell us, why did you not come out sooner, Mrs. Malfoy?' _

'_I was desperately afraid of him and controlled, manipulated into submission by him and my own parents, and I thought my son had to have a father-figure.'_

'_And why can you denounce him now, and not then?' _

'_I don't wish to answer this question. You will know the reason behind it all at my husband's hearing when I'll be serving as an eye-witness to his cruelty to me, and his son and countless other Muggles and Muggle-borns.'"_

While Harry was reading it to Ron, he saw Mrs. Malfoy shaking hands with Rita Skeeter, the one who interviewed her in the _Prophet_. After The-Boy-who-Lived' done reading it to his best friend, both were silent for a good few minutes, and didn't know what to say.

"Blimey, that must be why Ferret boy didn't provoke us one time this whole time! His Father was going to be arrested and Heard at the Wizengamot!" Ron finally said.

"I must say, I never thought Mrs. Malfoy hated her husband so much, that she would file a lawsuit against him!"

"Yes, I always thought her to be such a cold-hearted, Pure-Blood snob! And I always presumed she shared her husband's notions about blood status and blood purity and was Muggle and Muggle-born hater! Ron added.

"We were wrong about her, and Hermione would tell us: 'I told you so.' Ah, there she is."

"Oi! Hermione, did you know about 's Malfoy Sr.'s hearing?"

"What?! No! How did you guys know about it?" She faked being astonished at the news.

"We just read it in the _Daily Prophet_. There, you can read it yourself, written by Rita Skeeter." Harry threw the journal to her.

Meanwhile, in the Slytherin Common Room, Zabini and Nott also just finished reading the Prophet's interview about Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. Nott said to Zabini:

"This is really some incredibly big news."

"Stop stating the obvious." Zabini replied.

"Reckon Malfoy knows about his dad's hearing?"

"I don't know, to be honest, Nott."

Just as they were talking about Mr. Malfoy Sr's hearing, Draco Malfoy came in the Common Room.

"Guys, what were you talking about before I came in the room?"

"The Prophet's article about your Mum and Dad."

"What's so interesting about it? Give me that, NOW, Zabini!"

"Here you go! No need to yell at me for it, Merlin! Did you know about it beforehand or not?"

"No, I didn't and my dad's hearing is none of your business, you two."

Friday the 23rd of March was such a long, tiring day for Draco Malfoy. After his classes, his Mother directly came to Hogwarts' to get him to the Supreme Court. They used the Floo to get there. When Mother and son got there, the 50 Wizengamot members were already present and the audience crowded. Amidst the witches and wizards' staring and talking amongst them, he spotted Hermione Granger in the crowd. She flashed him a small supportive smile when she saw him; he returned it with the Malfoy smirk.

He saw Dumbledore sitting on the highest chair, and asked the Audience and the Jury to quiet down:

"Settle down, settle down, judges and audience! The hearing will begin soon!" His voice was, obviously Amplified.

"Please Mrs. Malfoy, as First witness to Mr. Malfoy's case, step forward and let us hear your testimony against him!"

"I am Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy's wife and Draco Malfoy's Mother. I am here today, to firstly denounce my parents, who used Imperio on me to marry me to him and secondly, to expose my husband and sister as Death-Eaters to the whole Wizarding World! I extracted 3 of my memories from the family's Pensieve, from 1975-1985, and put them in this vial. Let me show you how everything began for me."

As the crowd and audience watched, the vial began to glow, showing her Memories from 1975-1985:

_Narcissa was younger, a teenager, and still in her childhood house, and her parents were discussing about her Future and her Marriage, in front of her: _

"_Who do you think would be a suitable match for her?' Her Father Cygnus III asked her Mother, Druella Black. _

"_Lucius Malfoy." _

"_Yes, I bet she won't agree to it, but let's use Imperio on her to force her into it, she will understand later on it was for her own good."_

"_Agreed."_

The vial finished glowing at the end of her first memory. She pointed her wand at it again, and it showed the Audience and Court the 2nd memory from her teenagehood:

_Lucius Malfoy, her and her sister Bellatrix Lestrange, were in Albania in 1981, attempting to find Lord Voldemort's remains after his fall from power and his 'Death'. After they found the remainder of his corpse, her husband was trying franticly to use the Resurrection Stone to revive him, but to no avail. After that, both her own blooded Sister and husband Crucioed her because they were not able to resurrect the Dark Lord._

After the vial stopped glowing, she pointed her wand at it a 3rd time, and this time, it showed her Memory in 1978, when Lucius was verbally violent to her while she just got pregnant with their daughter, Auriga Malfoy.

"_You, useless wench! What a waste of space you are, giving me a daughter! I wanted a boy, a Heir to the Malfoy line! I should have married the Notts' daughter, not you!" Lucius Malfoy was beyond enraged. _

"_I did the best I could, Lucius, please, no more torment!" _

"_How dare you call me Lucius, you should call me : my Lord when speaking to me! I am the Master of this House and family!" _

"_Yes, my Lord!" _

After she's done showing the Audience and the Court her memories, the witches and wizards gasped and some fainted.

"Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

"These memories are falsified and have been altered to frame us!" cried her sister, outraged.

"Really, Sister Dearest? I have kept a personal diary and no one outside of it than myself can alter or falsify what I've written in there! The jury and court can read it at their leisure! Your Honour, if you will!"

Dumbledore read the most important passage from it to the Court and Audience:

"_Entry 100th, 1978, Dearest Diary: _

_I Narcissa Black Malfoy, wife to Lucius Malfoy, have just lost a daughter named Auriga Malfoy. I lost her due to extreme stress and fatigue, the medi-witch Anya Romanov said…. I am extremely lost and stressed, though rather than console me for her loss, Lucius scolded me and punished me and used the Cruciatus Curse on me again. I don't wish to say more about what I feel, but someday I will avenge my baby girl's death…_

_Narcissa Black Malfoy.__"_

"Let's now hear 2nd eye-witness Anya Romanov's testimony on that!" said Dumbledore to the Wizengamot and the Audience.

"Yes, I was the Medi-Witch at St-Mungo's, I was tending to Mrs Malfoy as she was giving birth to a baby girl she named Auriga Malfoy, but due to serious fatigue and physical injuries, she had a miscarriage and lost her." The witches and wizards in the audience talked amongst themselves after hearing her words.

Draco Malfoy, also in the audience, was seemingly cold and emotionless, but interiorly, he was really feeling sorry for his Mother, who always indulged his selfish and childish whims, and who was there to protect him from his father's. Reading about it in her letter to him was one thing, but hearing her speak so feelingly about his sister Auriga was another.

"Now, let Draco Malfoy, the 3rd eye-witness, speak against his Father, Lucius Malfoy!"

"I am Draco Malfoy, only son born to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, and I am living proof that Lucius Malfoy, my father, is a Dark Wizard and a criminal. He always would hex and jinx me whenever I did something to displease him or when I've been beaten by some Muggles. And now in the most recent years, he'd punish me with some Dark Spells whenever I got academically defeated by Hermione Jean Granger, a Muggle-born and my fellow classmate in Gryffindor. Let me show you all a picture of my back scars, taken by my Godfather Severus Snape for me as evidence against my own father's cruelty to me. Your Honor, if you please!"

Dumbledore brought it to the Court and showed it to everyone in the room, a photo with him on it, saying: "WHY FATHER, DO I DESERVE THIS?" and his scars with leeches, slugs and Dark blood coming out from them. Some had nausea in the crowd and had to be rushed in the St-Mungo's after seeing the horrifying talking picture.

"Draco, you're MY son, you can't do this to me!" s Lucius.

"I am not your son, I am my Mother's son!"

After what seemed like hours, Dumbledore said:

"The Jury has made it's decision concerning Mr. Malfoy Sr., Mrs. Lestrange and Mr and Mrs. Black: life-sentences in Azkaban for the use of the Unforgivable Curses, and Dark Arts on Mrs. Malfoy and her son, Draco Malfoy."

Narcissa heaved a sigh of relief, she and her son were finally free, free from him, the him being her husband and them being her own blood relatives. And most of all, free to help the Light side openly, and to make their own choices for themselves in life! Her Dragon, she saw, was in the 3rd witness' seat and physically drained, but searching frenziedly for Hermione Granger. She smiled, for the first time in 15 years: "_How so very sweet_".

SO, WAS IT DETAILED ENOUGH OR THE RIGHT LENGTH? YOU WANT TO CRITICIZE MY FANFIC, GO AHEAD, PLEASE, I'M WAITING FOR THEM AND I LOVE READING YOUR HONEST THOUGHTS ABOUT IT, THANK YOU! AND ANY IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS FOR IT ARE WELCOME!

I WANT SOME REVIEWS BEFORE CONTINUING IT, PLEASE, THANK YOU!


	9. Chapter 9

I forgot to say something, before reading: Hermione and Ron haven't begun dating yet in my story, take this into account before reading this chapter please, thank you. This isn't for Ronmione fans, this is for Dramione fangirls!

After the exhausting hearing was over, and after a good 10 minutes of looking for her, Draco at last, found Hermione, cheering for him in the crowd. He was pleased to see her rooting for his victory over his cruel and evil father. He didn't care anymore about public appearances or demeanour, so he just walked over to her and publicly hugged her, something he never did before. Hermione, taken aback, didn't push him away. He held her very close to him. Narcissa Malfoy's smile on her aged face widened when she saw her boy with her.

"You're not afraid of what other people would say about you? Harry and Ron already knew about your Father's hearing from the Prophet yesterday evening!"

"Screw other people and to hell Potter and Weasley! I've been taught to care about other people's opinions about me and even how I should conduct myself in public all my life ever since I was born. For once, I just don't want to care about others, the only person I need now, is you and I just want to be myself, no matter where I am. You don't know how much courage it gave me, to see you in the audience when I was serving as an eye-witness against him." She was extremely flattered to hear that. That was the best compliment anyone could ever pay her.

On the following Saturday, at breakfast, in the Great Hall, her two friends were beyond furious. She saw why immediately: in the Daily Prophet, there was a photo of Draco Malfoy, hugging her tightly. She didn't read the gossip article about her and Malfoy, right under the picture, probably it was about her and him secretly dating, or in love or some other rumour crap Rita Skeeter usually wrote about them 3. _"Damn, I told him people would know about it, he wouldn't listen to me!"_ She didn't say that out loud though.

"Why didn't you just tell us the truth when we asked you about it, Hermione, that you've been getting together with enemy?" asked Ron, really hurt she lied to him about knowing about the hearing beforehand, but more so about Malfoy being so close to her last night. _"Was it jealousy?"_ He didn't know himself what emotion he was feeling precisely, but he was enraged when he saw the picture of Ferret boy and Hermione together that way.

"How could you say he's the enemy? After all he's done for us? Did you know how much courage it took him to do what he did to be free from his Father's shadows and you don't know half the things he's gone through his whole entire life?! He and his mother have gone over to our side, guys, they're our allies now, hello!"

"And you're defending them? How could you trust them?"

"The Hearing, everything, was carefully planned between Dumbledore, Malfoy and his mother, Snape and I, guys! Dumbledore trusts them and I have faith in them two and you should too! Stop sulking and being jealous about Malfoy holding me last night. He was just in a weak moment after everything he's been through, he just needed some moral support!"

"What?! Moral support?! Then what, were you doing with him so close to you? And I really can't believe you, he's been a bloody hell git to you for bloody over 6 years, and called you a Mudblood and he's one other horrible things to you and us, your friends, and you just forgive him like that and even consider him an ally or maybe something more?!"

"Ron, I know you'll always him as the enemy, but I don't and don't you fucking accuse me of liking him, you overly jealous freak! Just imagine being scared of your father every day and night, even at school, and even being tortured by him on a daily basis…it's no wonder he's taken after Mr. Malfoy Sr.'s bully personality."

"Whatever we say, you just will defend them, right? They may be our allies, but certainly not friends!" Harry added to Ron's argument against the Malfoys.

"I didn't ask you to be friends with them, just asked you to see them as being on our side, because I repeat one more time, they did it to be free from the Dark Side, so they could do whatever they want, and they are more than willing to help us. When the war against You-know-who starts, we'll need all the help we can get!" She attempted one last time to reason with them.

"Fine, fine, you win, Hermione! said Harry finally, giving up.

It was supposed to be a Hogsmeade week-end, but because Sir Ronald Weasley was in a sulky and bad mood all day long, so they didn't hang out together, like the other students did. Hermione envied them. "_Where was Malfoy, what was he doing? Why I am thinking about him, out of the blue? I should work on my assignments." _The rest of the day, she did some light homework like information searching for her papers and reading in the library. Her brain was dead after last night's Hearing and Trial. She and Harry avoided Ron like the plague.

On Sunday, Ron was feeling quite lonesome without either Harry or Hermione talking to him and didn't sulk anymore and thought over about his irrational jealousy of Malfoy. _"I really shouldn't have said what I did to her yesterday."_ After a while of deep musing about if she would forgive him or not for that, he resolved to go find her, to apologize to her publicly in the Gryffindor Common Room, where she was furiously writing an essay for the course : Care of Magical Creatures on Centaurs. Noticing him in the room, she lifted her head and greeted him with:

"Oh Hello Ron, still sulking about Malfoy keeping me close to him and jealous about that?"

"No, I came to say I'm sorry for what I said to you, it was unfair to you, I see it now after I cooled down, I was such a hot-head yesterday, but it's the Malfoys and they just get to me, you understand? I'm really sorry and I'm hoping you'd forgive me. Let's go do something in the Hog's Head to make up, please?"

"Since you said please, yes sure, and apology accepted, but only this afternoon, in the morning, I thought to finish my essay on Centaurs for Care of Magical Creatures on the upcoming tuesday."

"You're too nice, Hermione, someone will take advantage of you someday."

"I'm not someone who likes to hold it against someone for very long. Have you told Harry about going to the Hogs' Head together?"

"Yes."

So Sunday afternoon, the 3 of them went to the Hog's Head to have some butter beer and to have some good fun in the old pub, crowed with odd-looking witches and wizards, some missing one eye. In the evening, she was revising for the N.E.W.T.S, she was thinking: she had to go and confront Malfoy about the hug they shared at the end of the Hearing/Trial.

Monday was as usual: Potions, Charms, Defence the Dark Arts, advanced level for 6th year student. She was more attentive and more eager to answer questions in class now that she was getting some off time from her secret mission. Malfoy, too, she noted, in DADA, was more concentrated on Snape's lecture. In the evening though, the Headmaster called her up again, to meet up with him in his spacious, oval office, so she didn't get a chance to confront Malfoy about the hug at the hearing.

"Lemon Drops" and the gargoyles let her in.

"Hello, Headmaster, something's up again?"

"Yes, I've got some disturbing news from Severus. But before I tell what it is, I wish to tell you, that I used the art of Legilimency on you, to discover whether or not you've told Mr. Potter and Weasley everything. And I found out that you did, but only part of it."

"I'm sorry, Professor, I was under enormous stress and being pressured into it by Ronald Weasley! He wouldn't stop fighting with me about Narcissa and Draco Malfoy being good, so to convince him otherwise, I had to tell him it was planned between us, sir! I apologize for that!"

"It's fine, Miss Granger, it's understandable. He was acting out of jealousy, afraid you might be falling in love with Mr. Malfoy, I think he likes you as more than a friend, and just wants to look out for you."

"Headmaster, how can you be so blunt about these things! And anyway, I did not come for that, what did you want to tell me?"

"Ah yes, I wanted to tell you this: Severus Snape, who drank the Polyjuice Potion and disguised as Macnair, uncovered about something very interesting information that might help us win the war against Lord Voldemort faster. He's found out, at one of the Death-Eaters' meeting, that the Prophecy about and Longbottom was entirely wrong. Let me tell you who did it: The Seer who Lord Voldemort consulted, Cassandra Vablastky, falsified the Prophecy. Instead of: "_Neither can live, while the other survives_", it should have read: _"Neither can die, while the other lives."_

"What does it change for Harry and how in any way does it help our side?"

"Don't interrupt me, please. Now, "the other" in the Prophecy, is not about Mr. Potter, but it is referring to the two 'people' inside Lord Voldemort: Lord Voldemort, the Dark and Evil person and Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr, the Good and Loving person inside of him. And for you to understand everything from his perspective better, I'd like you to have private lessons and training sessions with Severus on Legilimency and Occlumency for the remainder of the school year, the art to read someone else's mind like an open book and to influence their very thoughts and feeling. Occlumency is the exact opposite of Legilimency. Why? Because you can go back in time and help him fight off 'Lord Voldemort''s control over Tom Riddle, who's inside of him like a second, evil persona in him. And before you ask: why do I want you to master Occlumency? Because sometimes, when you're too deep in someone else's mind using Legilimency, the other person can also easily read your thoughts and emotions."

"Sounds like he's got a split personality, or a double personality disorder. However, I myself am not sure I'll be able to master Legilimency and Occlumency in 3 months, plus, I have classes and everything."

"What's a split personality disorder? I know, but I am confident you will be able to go in Lord Voldemort's thoughts and mind and to influence him for good and to dissuade from making the 7 Horcruxes."

"What in Merlin are Horcruxes, Sir?

"Since you love to read, here's a book on them, I banned it from Hogwarts: "_Of Horcruxes and other Dark Objects"_. And you may tell Harry and Ron about everything, since they will, no doubt ask about why you're so busy and everything, but not the part about the Prophecy being altered. And I trust, you are going to use the art of Legilimency, wisely and intelligently on Riddle or Voldemort."

"I hope I'll be up for the challenges, Professor. And since you asked: a dual personality disorder, is when a person has 2 personalities in them, the Muggle psychiatrists believe this is a common mind disease."

"I am most confident you will be. You will have 2 hours of intensive training sessions and lessons every night during approximately 3 months, with Severus before you go back in time though, so you could better understand Him and see how Tom became Lord Voldemort and why he made those Horcruxes I mentioned earlier. And about that, that's a very interesting perspective from the Muggles' point of view, a very ingenious indeed explanation for that. But Tom doesn't have 2 'personalities' in him, there really are two different 'people' inside of Him. Another critical thing you must understand about him: when he is weak, he is 'Lord Voldemort', and when he is momentarily strong enough to fight the Dark him, he is 'Tom Riddle'. He doesn't even know himself which one he is sometimes. In short, Hermione, your task is to save Him, before his Light and Good self gets entirely consumed by his Dark and Evil self.

After Dumbledore and Hermione had some Pumpkin Juice and some Chocolate Frogs, the Headmaster added:

"And if he could defeat 'Lord Voldemort' by himself and definitely get rid of the Dark or Evil him, everything will be so much easier for us."

"I understand everything perfectly now, Professor. Have you talked to Professor Snape about those lessons on Legilimency/Occlumency, though?"

"Of course, no need to worry, I've already arranged everything between him and you, Miss Granger. Anymore questions?"

"Yes, is it legal to make alterations to someone's past in this way?"

"Don't worry, I have express permission from the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot for you to use Legilimency to alter Lord Voldemort's past. Remember, Miss Granger, you're doing this so Pure-bloods, Muggle-borns, Half-Bloods and Muggles and other beings could all live in a safer, better place together and in peace."

"And why me, out of us 3? I think Harry would be the most suitable one for this part of the Mission, since he can already dream about the Dark Lord's feelings, moods and everything else."

"Why you, indeed? The classical question. Firstly, I hope you didn't forget how everything begun for you, yes? What did I say at the very beginning of this, Miss Granger?"

"Because I am a Muggle-born and can see there are extremists on each side: the Muggles who hate magic and persecute witches and wizards like Harry's relatives, the Dursleys, and the Pure-Bloods who hate everything Muggle and Muggle-borns, and who just want the world for the Pure-Bloods, like You-know-who."

"You've got part of it right, let me tell you my other reasons for choosing you for these things: because you are kind and very compassionate, just the contrary of Lord Voldemort and I didn't choose Harry for it because his scar's pain will be unbearable to him if he was inside Lord Voldemort's mind. And I also picked you because your mind is stronger than both Ron and Harry."

"And why is that, Harry's scar will be intolerable for him if he did go in the Dark Lord's can you tell me please?"

"Because their minds are somehow connected."

"How? And why does it affect Harry's scar?"

"As Lord Voldemort is a very skilled Legilimens and Occlumens himself, if it were Harry who did the job, he would instantly sense and know it's him. Why again? Now we don't want that, do we? And if it were you who was inside his mind, he would't suspect a thing because he doesn't know you this well, he wouldn't be able to 'sense' or 'feel' you if you were in his mind, 'sense' here meaning 'being aware of something or something'. And if you could block your own emotions from him with Occlumency, that would be even better, because even if he was aware there was someone inside his mind, he wouldn't be able to tell it's you, because you're shutting off everything you are feeling from him. You're our secret weapon, Miss Granger."

"Ah, how convenient and I understand better now. And can you tell something more, about Legilimency, does it allow someone to see inside someone's mind or to read it?"

"'To see', is the correct verb to use when it comes to Legilimency, my dear. And some extremely skilled Occlumens, can control what they want to let people see. If you're interested in the theories of Legilimency and Occlumency, on your first lesson with Severus, starting from tomorrow night, at 7 P.M., ask for his: "_Handbook for beginners in Legilimency and Occlumency._"

"I will Professor, good night."

"Oh and Miss Granger, before bidding you good night and before I forget, use the Time-Turner to have more time for your studies, here's yours." As he said this, he took one out from his robes' pocket and gave it to her. It was almost midnight when the Headmaster and she were done discussing things.

Chapter end note: I'd really appreciate some reviews please, thank you! Please tell me what you liked/disliked about this chapter/fanfic in general, and you may even discuss about plotholes, characterization and everything else in this fic. Naturally, I WELCOME any ideas/thoughts/suggestions/opinions about my fanfic. I will try to take them all into account when I write my next one, thank you for taking your time to READ AND REVIEW IT, thank you, from my heart.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day in Care for Magical Creatures, she listened to Hagrid's lecture about Centaurs. It was mildly interesting, even for her. Hagrid was a bit monotonous when he was teaching the class about them. Some of them were even dozing off during class. After a long, boring hour of lecture, he asked:

"Who can tell me more about those fascinating creatures who can see the Future?"

Hermion knew the answer, having read it in a book about Centaurs for her essay, but a Ravenclaw classmate beat her to it:

"They are immensely secretive and their natural habitat is the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts, to hide from other magical creatures."

"Yes, Miss Lovegood. 50 points for Ravenclaw for correctly answering this. Those centaurs are afraid of other beings, to they hide in the most secretive of places, and afraid of being seen by other creatures, they cast powerful Charms around the place they live…" Hermione, Ron and Harry were only half-listening to him.

Second Period, she had History of Magic, and after that, she went to Muggle Studies… At 7 o'clock sharp, after supper, she was in Snape's private office, eager for her first lesson on Legilimency and Occlumency. Snape was better, as a teacher than Rubeus Hagrid. At least, he wasn't dull when he was giving a lecture, he made it very interesting. Before the lesson however, she had used her free period in the afternoon to peruse extensively about the subject in the library. "_Very useful stuff_" were her thoughts on the matter.

"Granger, as Dumbledore requested, I am here this evening to teach you about Legilimency and Occlumency until 9. But this first lesson will be more theoretical than practical. I hope you'll be more attentive than you were in Care of Magical Creatures."

"Yes, Professor."

"As you know, Legilimency is the art to see inside one's mind and to interpret the person's feelings, emotions correctly. And to counter Legilimency, Occlumency must be used. I believe you have already read about them before the lesson, however, so how much do you know about it, do tell me?"

"There are many uses to the 2 Arts. A skilled Legilimens can completely control someone else's feelings and emotions and use it like the Unforgivable Imperius Curse. And an accomplished Occlumens will be able to block a Legilimens completely and even choose the memories he or she wants the Legilimens to see. And Occlumency can ward off the Imperius Curse, that's how Harry fought it off, on numerous occasions."

"Yes, exactly. You are going to fully master both skills, required for your Mission, in 3 Months. 3 months is barely enough time for that however, but I will teach you some shortcuts and tricks to it. You know the basic theory already, but, let me teach you something else about them: there are different levels of mastery for both Arts. When you will be a Master of both, things will get interesting for you. Not only will be able to be inside the Dark Lord's minds and feel what he feels, but also you will be able to block your feelings from him. If everything goes well, he will not know you are inside his mind, at all."

"I didn't plan for you to start casting the spells yet, but you will start by using Legilimency on me, at first, with your wand and verbally. The Incantation for this is: 'Legilimens.' Please try it on my mind, first. I will not use Occlumency when you'll be using Legilimency on my mind yet, as it's going to be too hard for a beginner. "

"Legilimens!" Hermione said, using her wand, but she couldn't penetrate inside Snape's mind, him being a naturally secluded person. A total beginner had no chance against him as he was a total master at both skills. But she was extremely perseverant, she tried it again and again and again on Snape. Her mind was completely worn out when 9 o'clock hit.

"You'll need more willpower, Granger, to be able to do it correctly." Snape advised her.

In the span of 2 weeks, however, she was able to see a little bit inside his mind. She was able to interpret his emotions and to see some of his thoughts and emotions: he was bored out of his mind, having to teach a beginner Legilimency. This motivated her to be better at it. "_Well, I'll show him I'm what I'm capable of!_", not giving up. She often had huge headaches, even migraines after the lesson, so she frequently visited the infirmary. Between regular classes, and her extra sessions with Snape in the evening, she barely had time for her friends, after the 3 made up about the "Malfoy incident", as Ron liked to call it. Ron and Harry, of course, noted she went to the infirmary 3 or 4 times per week. Ron wanted to ask her if everything was all right, but Harry told him: "Don't, she's probably just burying herself with schoolwork, as she was beaten by a Ravenclaw in one of our Care of Magical Creatures Class."

Another 2 weeks slipped by quickly for her. She was always on time for her Legilimency/Occlumency training sessions. She now could completely dive into Snape's mind, even see some of his memories, and even was able to do so wandlessly and she didn't need the verbal incantation anymore. One particularly session, she was exceedingly successful with invading Snape's thoughts. This was the Memory she saw in his mind:

_He was in his 6th year, like her, and just gotten provoked by the Marauders: James, Sirius, Peter, and Lupin. They were young, handsome, and Lupin wasn't bitten by a werewolf yet. James was sneering at him as usual: _

"_Greasy-haired, cunning and scheming half-blood, socializing with the Pure-Bloods as if he were one of them!"_

"_Yeah, you'll never be one of them, Snivellus, although you want to be!" added Peter. _

"_Stop pretending to be a Pure-Blood, Snivelly! You have filthy blood in you too!" taunted Sirius. Lupin was the only one who didn't say anything mean to him. An enraged Snape started to say: _

"_Sectu—" But before he could fully cast the spell, Lupin thwarted it with: _

"_Protego!" _

Before she could see more of it, however, he said:

"Occlumens!"

And she was definitely pulled out from his mind.

"So that's why you hate Harry so much, because of what his Father's done to you at school".

"I don't hate Potter because of that, Granger. I just think he is a mediocre, and terrible wizard, he doesn't apply himself in School like you do, Granger." That was perhaps the nicest thing Snape has ever said to her. "Wow, quite an improvement on his part!"

"Then, why exactly, Professor?" She asked him.

"Watch! This is why!" And he pulled out a memory from his mind expressly for her to see, and she said:

_This time, he was in his 7th year, 1978, Dolohov, Nott and Zabini Sr. were all tormenting and calling Lily Potter names and making fun of her: _

"_Mudblood, Muggle-Filth who doesn't deserve to be at Hogwarts! She isn't even a proper Witch! How can Muggle parents conceive witches and wizards?" Dolohov was taunting her with that. _

_Zabini and Nott were just beginning to torment her with jinxes and hexes. As James Potter was near, he rushed into her defence while he, Severus Snape, watching the scene, didn't even try to protect her from his fellow Slytherins "friends". Lily thanked James profusely for saving her from her harassers. _

After the memory faded away, Hermione could feel his sincere and honest regret. She also sensed hed cared for her, yet because he was a Pure-Blood, couldn't show her how much he loved her, a bit like Draco Malfoy, she mused. She felt so sorry for him. As she was highly intelligent, she deducted from this memory that this was when Lily Potter began to fall for his arch-nemesis, James Potter. She nevertheless asked him:

"So that's when Lily Potter began to fall for James Potter, Harry's dad, your arch-rival in school and because you resent him for taking her away from you, am I right?".

"Yes, you guessed right. I was in love with Lily Potter, and as you know, I've met her even before Hogwarts, she was such a warm, loving and pure-hearted girl, capable of compassion and forgiveness. But one day, after I called her a Mudblood myself, she didn't have the heart to forgive me, that is when she decisively for my much despised school rival, James Potter. And like Harry, he was Sorted in Gryffindor and I in Slytherin. So we, Slytherins, might be cold, and heartless in appearance, but we also have feelings and are human. I do hope you'll give Draco a chance to love you."

"Why are you talking about him, all of a sudden?"

"Because I believe his feelings about you have changed."

"He isn't bullying me anymore and isn't calling me a Mudblood anymore, but that's all, Professor Snape."

"There's much more than that to him, Granger. Firstly, he trusts and esteems you as a Witch and a person, like he's never trusted anybody before, except for his Mother, Narcissa. As a Malfoy, he's exceedingly proud of himself and was taught, by his father, to never trust anybody, but himself. His father also taught him that showing emotions was a sign of weakness, and that's why he buried his human heart deep inside of him. So, as his Godfather, I'd ask you to never break his trust in you."

"You know him so well, Professor and he must look up to you immensely. I must admit, I got extremely surprised when he hugged after his father's hearing."

"You have won over his trust, Granger, that's a very big step for him. And I think it won't be before long that he gives his heart to you fully, and when that happens, please try and love him back, don't reject him like Lily did to me."

"Although, I don't consider him an enemy anymore, though given our hostile past and our starting off the wrong foot with each other, I can't promise anything, but I will try. And I don't think he'd fall for me, as he still has a lot of prejudices against Muggle-borns."

"Do you think he still cares about that after he's touched you physically, Granger?"

"A Muggle-saying for you, Professor: 'Old habits die hard.' I don't think he's completely changed… I still have some qualms about him, Sir."

"His mother doesn't care about that, and he's taking more after her than his father as she was his only protect against harsh realities. I know for sure he doesn't anymore care about blood purity."

"How do you know, Professor? I don't think he's changed that much—"

"I know, because unknown to him, I've been using Legilimency for some while on him to find out about how he feels towards you, Granger. All I ask, as his Godfather, is to give him a chance, and please, don't let your prejudices against us Pure-bloods blind you. And I suspect, you'll need to get rid of those yourself, if you want to be able to influence the Dark Lord's perspectives on this matter."

"These are private matters, Sir, not to be treated lightly!"

"It's already 9 o'clock, Granger, time's up." He simply said to that.

Hermione, was more than shocked, to hear Malfoy trusted her, and even esteemed her as a Witch. "_Well, that was some good development between them._" But she still didn't entirely believe Snape when he said she will win over his heart. In fact, she was pessimistic and skeptical about that. After all, they were just partners. And besides, she liked Ron, and he wasn't even her friend.

Malfoy, Harry and Ron noted her absent-minded state during classes. Malfoy took the chance to win some house points for Slytherin and smirked at her in Herbology when Professor Sprout awarded him 30 points for healing a hurt Venomous Tantacula. Neville Longbottom retaliated by winning 100 house points for Gryffindor by answering another question right. The whole school now knew Malfoy regarded her differently, since he didn't insult her, or call her a Mudblood at all for about a whole month. Students gossiped and talked about that, and some even bet on whether or not she or Malfoy started a relationship, after seeing them together in the Prophet.

"I bet 50 nuts that they are in fact, dating!" said Ginny Weasley excitedly. She didn't want to be too much because if she weren't right, she'd be loosing too much gold for nothing.

"Add 20 sickles more if they were secretly in love with each other the whole time!" called Lavender Brown.

Hermione never knew about the bet on her and Malfoy's 'secret' relationship. She would be appalled if she knew her female friends placed money bets on her.

In the Slytherin Common Room, on the 30th of April 1997, Malfoy and his friends were seriously discussing about things in their lives and their future in general:

"Although we got our Dark Mark in our 5th year, we never really cared to join the Dark Lord's side, we were all forced to," young Zabini said first.

"Yes, but the Light side will never accept us" disagreed Theodore Nott.

"Yes they will, it's fact the Light side accepted me."

"No, they didn't, only Granger did, not Potter or Weasley."

"I'm sure they will." said Draco obstinately.

"After all, we're Slytherins, all treacherous, liars and untrustworthy, to quote the Light side's preconceived views towards us."

"No, I'm sure they will be more understanding and open-minded than that."

"They're not all like Granger, Draco."

"But you guys will follow me? No matter what?"

"Yes, no matter what, friends until our lives end."

End Chapter Note: I have planned 4 chapters for May, June, July and August 1997 at Hogwarts for Draco, Harry, Ron and Hermione and other minor characters. Will be mostly details about the main characters' lives and some major events that will be important to the main plot. PLEASE REVIEW: NO REVIEWS, NO MORE UPDATES BECAUSE I NEED SOME INSPIRATION TO WRITE WHAT HAPPENS IN THE UPCOMING 5 MONTHS, THANK YOU FOR YOU SUPPORT, AS ALWAYS. I AM KIND OF ON WRITER'S BLOCK FOR THESE MONTHS, AS NOTHING MAJOR WILL HAPPEN FOR THE STORY'S MAIN PLOT, SO PLEASE REVIEW AND GIVE ME SOME NEW IDEAS! DID YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER OR NOT? I AM DYING TO KNOW, THANKS, ALL FOR READING AND REVIEWING MY STORY.


	11. Chapter 11

Just then, Pansy Parkinson, the girl who Draco found exceedingly annoying and really ugly, rushed into the Common Room and walked in on their conversation:

"Well, I will never abandon the Dark Side! In my family, we're all Pure-Bloods!"

"Purity of Blood is superficial, and you can't judge a Witch or a Wizard's merit by his or her blood status!" If someone told Draco he would say that someday, he would have told them they were out of their minds. But he changed, for the better, under more wholesome influences like his Mother's, his Uncle Sev's and Hermione Granger's.

"It's that Mudblood slut's doings, isn't it Drakie-poo?"

"DON'T EVER CALL HER THAT IN FRONT OF ME, PANSY! NEVER SAY THAT WORD AGAIN!" He was allergic to that word now, and found it disgusting to call anyone that. He wondered at himself, how he could call Hermione that for 6 years, and how she could find it in her heart to forgive him, after 6 years of bullying her and tormenting her about her blood status. Maybe she just pitied him because of what he's gone through in his childhood and teenagehood. He had to make things clear with her. "_Where they friends, or just on the same team_?"

"FINE, BUT YOU'VE BEEN CHEATING ON ME WITH GRANGER!"

"Ahh, so this is because you're jealous of her yes, because I hugged her after my father's hearing-trial? Well, I'll tell you what, she's much better than you, because you're as fake as the rest of the Slytherin girls, preying after my gold, my good looks and my societal status! And guess that, I never really liked you! Father's the who's been arranging things between our families, I never wanted any of that! And I'll never want you, Parkinson, you ugly motherfucking bitch." That caused her to run away from the Common Room to the girl's bathroom. There, she said to herself: "One day, just you see, Drakie-Poo, I'll have you!"

As for Hermione Granger, her body and mind became accustomed to her hectic student life at Hogwarts: lessons in the day, Legilimency/Occlumency sessions with Snape, and rewinding time to revise for her N.E.W.T.S and doing assignments like making a Potion, practicing whatever spell with her fellow housemates, and reading on Horcruxes and Legilimency/Occlumency to help her understand these skills more deeply. One day, in the first week of May, she was in the Prefect's bathrooms, where no one can bother, hear her read to herself, or ask her any questions about anything, she wasn't in the mood to answer any and she was spending her time reading "Of Horcruxes and other Dark Objects", because she suspected this would be necessary for her Mission, since Dumbledore has mentioned them once to her. She read an excerpt of it to herself, out loud:

"_Horcruxes, are extremely Dark objects or items. They are used to store one's soul after having split them. Making one Horcrux, is damaging enough for one's soul. But to split one's soul in 7, is to break it beyond any repair possible and to go down the dark path. Why? One of the Horcruxes' use is to store one's soul in something else and after Death, the 7 souls can be retrieved from the things the person placed one's souls in and once he or she has done that, he or she can have a whole body after their Death and the one who does use the Horcruxes for that is called 'The Splitter'. Horcruxes, can be anything: a watch, a locket, a tiara, a bracelet, even another Witch or a Wizard… But after splitting one's soul once, the 2 parts of one's souls can fight in one body, causing the Witch or the Wizard to be extremely confused about his or her identity. He or she will start, for example, by calling himself/herself other names than their given birth names. And this gets worse and worse, if the person broke their Soul in 7, then 7 Souls will be fighting in one body. They will try to kill each other, as they cannot stand being sharing one body. The fight will lead, for most people, to insanity and while they are fighting against each other, the person will go mad and there hasn't been any way to deal with this kind of madness yet, since only the Dark wizards will want to make these. Why? Because they want to live beyond their Death…. but it can also be extremely dangerous for them. But I digress, the 7 souls can also be placed in someone else's body, thus giving the Wizard or Witch who split his or her Soul in 7, another body than his or hers. Why would anyone want to do that? Because the person's body is destroyed, after their Death, and thus they will need a whole body, to store these Souls in temporarily, before they get their own body back. The process to Resurrecting one's body and soul, is long and arduous and hazardous, can cause both their Host's and their own death. What is a 'Host'? It's the temporary body one gets, after splitting one's soul in 7, and after retrieving them and storing in someone else's body. But if the 'Host' is forced into being the 'Host' for the one who split their Soul, he or she, being the 'Host' can attempt to fight it back. If the 'Host' won, the Souls would be shattered forever and forever lost and both the 'Host' and 'Splitter of Soul' could die. And so, to prevent it from happening, one should choose a weak person to be the 'Host'. Muggles "_

"Well, this was some useful information, but Dumbledore said the Dark Lord had already made 7 Horcruxes, so splitting his Soul in 7 parts, but how come he just has 2 Souls in His body?" She asked herself after analyzing the paragraph some more. Some pages further, the answer was there:

"_The most powerful of the 7 Souls will fight against the weakest of them all, after all other 5 have been purged from one's self. One is more evil and darker, and the other kinder, and nicer. In order for the kindest soul to win over the darkest one, one must, with willpower, fight off the other stronger one, resisting it and even rejecting it, for the Good one to win against the Evil one. But if one has gone down to the Dark path, then the kinder Soul cannot win, or it will be immensely difficult for the being to fight off the Darkness."_

She presumed You-know-who had already split his Soul in 7, retrieved the parts of his Soul from the person he chose to store the 7 fragments of his Soul in and she added to herself, thinking out loud: And he's probably purged out the other 5 Souls in Him, since Dumbledore had said there were two Souls in Him. And that's why he got a full body now. Although, why has his body changed so much? And why was it snake-like? And unlike the Tom Marvolo Riddle they saw in the Chambers of Secrets in their 2nd year? And who was His "Host"? These were her questions after reading more and there was no answer to that, nowhere in the theoretical book about the Horcruxes. She suspected she would find the answers in His mind. She was quite scared of her dangerous Mission, but she was a determined young lady and she promised she would make everything all right for Tom Riddle/Voldemort.

But then she argued with herself: "How am I going to convince an extremely Dark and powerful Wizard to drop his quest to immortality?" She had no idea just then. She wanted to discuss things with Snape first, and then Dumbledore and then even Harry.

Thinking about Harry, she tried to find an explanation about his mind being connected to the Dark Lord. Were there Souls linked too? This made sense to her, because her friend and housemate often fought the Dark Lord inside of him. She hated it when there were so many "what ifs" and if these "what ifs" happened, things could go terribly wrong for them and their plan would be in jeopardy. The more and more she thought about it, Harry could be His host because of things.

With a big migraine after thinking and reading too much about one subject, she went to the infirmary to ask Madam Pomfrey for an anti-Headache potion. It worked like a charm and she could sleep soundly that night.

And as for her trainings with Snape, everything was sailing smoothly: he started to teach her about Occlumency, the Art to block one's mind from another's. She often discussed the Dark Lord with him and Draco Malfoy with him after 9 o'clock. Speaking of which, she still didn't have a chance to face him after their hugs. She had to find time for it.

One night, in the middle of the 2nd week of May, she had to patrol the corridors with him because both were House Prefects. Ron was doing the rounds with them too, albeit he really didn't want to be there with someone he considered as an enemy and a rival in love. Ron had admitted to himself, severals days before the 3 were together in the corridors, that he really liked Hermione, and cared for her as more than just a friend. But he too chicken to declare his love for her, so he hid them to himself. After they finished patrolling, Hermione told him:

"Ron, go to bed, I still have some things I need to talk over with Malfoy, please, it's private."

"What's so private that you can't tell me? We used to tell each other everything before… we're friends."

"Look, she said she wanted to talk to me, only, so scam, stupid Weasel!" Malfoy had no patience with him.

"Malfoy, civility, please, you'll have to lead by example! 20 points from Slytherin for being uncivil to a fellow Prefect!"

"Oi fine, I'll go to sleep! See you around, Hermione!" He said that to fool them two, he actually cast a Concealing Charm on himself and the Extendable ear, given to him by his brother Fred. He used this to eavesdrop on these two, he still had his doubts about Malfoy, after all, he's just recently been over the Light for some time. He mumbled to himself from his hiding corner:

"What did Hermione want to talk about with Malfoy that she can't tell me? Am I not one of her best friends?"

As Ron was spying on them two, he heard them say:

"I don't know what's gotten over you, Granger, but I'm not happy about you knocking off Housepoints from Slytherin!" Although he trusted her now, he was still very competitive when it came to academical success, and that included winning the House Cup, since Gryffindor won it for 5 years in a row.

"You were impolite to your colleague, Malfoy! Try and at least, be civil with him, he's my friend!"

"Am I not your friend too?" He asked her, sincerely wanting to know her answer to his question.

"Well, this is actually what I've been wanting to talk about with you, Malfoy… these past weeks have been wild for me, I didn't have the chance to discuss things with you in details. So, what are we, friends, or school rivals or just on the same team?" She asked him, also wishing to know his answer to that. Because she hated zones of grey for anything.

"I want to be friends with you, Granger, if you'll give me a chance. I know we've been less than friendly with each other for these past 6 years, but after what you've done for my Mother and me, I want to restart things with you and I promise, I'm going to make it to up to you."

"One thing before I say yes to this: do you still care about blood purity, as much as before? I know it's to let go of some things if we were taught from the cradle to believe it to be true—"

"Look, does it look like I care about it? Really, think, Granger and you'll know my answer."

"No, I think you don't as much as before, but I can't believe you've fully changed your mind about that since you were raised in this Pure-blood are better mentality all your life after all…"

"That Friday night, when I hugged close, did it look to you like I cared about that? No, Granger, I've truly changed, and I'm going to prove this to you."

"About that night yes, I need to make some things clear to you: I let you do that to me because you were in a moment of weakness, that's all, nothing more. And you don't need to prove anything to me, I believe you. Although, I'd like you to be civil if possible, to my friends."

"YOUR friends! They're not mine, Granger! I hate them both because they've rejected me… and although I don't think of Weasley as a blood traitor anymore, I still resent him for being best friends with Potter!"

"So you're bitter with Ron because Harry turned down your friendship offer and because he's been best friends with him for bloody 6 years, while you've been nothing less but a fucking git to him, always taunting him about his poverty and his family's love for all things Muggle!"

"Will you listen to me first, Granger! Yes, I am bitter with the Weasel because of that. Potter declined my friendship because of him!"

"Not because of him, Malfoy! Because you were acting like a snobby, conceited jerk to Harry on your first meeting with him! And please, NEVER CALL HIM WEASEL IN FRONT OF ME IF YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME!" She was getting extremely angry, as he was….

"ALL RIGHT, I WON'T! Will listen to me now? I was feeling really dejected when Potter turned me down… you know, because I was a prideful prat, so to avenged my lost pride, I decided to daily bully Ronald Weasley and you, because in my first year, I really thought your blood was dirty…. and look at how much I've changed, fully grown out of these prejudices against Muggles and Muggle-borns and I really want you to give me a chance at friendship with you, because I trust you! You've never once judged me for that and even helped me after finding about me being tortured at home!"

"You've really matured, Malfoy… I never thought you'd be so hurt after Harry spurned you! May I know why?"

"Because I was excited to meet him, like everybody else! And my father commanded me to befriend him!"

"Your father is so full of contradictions, why would he tell you to befriend a Half-blood?"

"My Father's a complicated man, Granger! So friends or not?"

"Since your intentions are truly genuine and pure, and you are, from your heart wishing to start over again with me, I accept you as my friend, but don't ever call Ron: 'Weasel', ever again or Harry: 'Pothead'! Do you hear me?"

"What about them calling me 'Ferret Boy'?"

"Fine, I'll talk to them about that. Deal?"

"Yes and are you ever going to call me Draco? We're friends now."

"We've just been friends for about a minute or so…I'd say it's a big improvement on your part to not call me 'Mudblood', but for me to call you Draco, it's going to take a while… since I've been thinking of you as 'Malfoy', ever since we've met for the first time, it would be too weird for me to call you by your first name, Malfoy."

"Please Hermione, no one, apart from Zabini and Nott, my two trusted friends has ever called me Draco and after all we've gone through together, I think you can call me Draco because Malfoy is my father for me, and I am not him."

"All right, fine. And by the way, how are your scars?"

"Better, much better, I'm glad you asked about me. Uncle Sev has been treating me every night with his healing potions, and they worked on them."

"Mal—, Draco, I am relieved to hear that. I want to go to bed now." She said, yawning.

"Before we both go to sleep, there's another small problem. Pansy is incredibly jealous of you because she's seen us together in the Prophet."

"Yes, damn that Rita Skeeter, I hate her so much! Why can't she just leave people's private lives alone?"

"Before you go on anymore about her, what are we going to do about Pans?"

"The answer to that, is simple: find her another love interest. And don't worry about me, I'm a big girl, I can deal with girls like her."

"Yes, I agree, she's more fit for Crabe or Goyle than me, actually."

"Smug Slytherin!" She said jokingly.

"Self-righteous Gryffindor!" He said back to her, in tease.

After having settled down about how to deal with Pansy, they both went to their dormitories.

Ron, too went up to the boy's dorm after spying on them. He was beyond jealous of Malfoy, his face livid with redness, saying to himself:

"How dare he be so friendly with Mione! I'll teach him!" He woke up the whole dormitory with that.

"Look, Ron, I don't know why you're thinking so loudly, but please _some_ people are trying to sleep!" said George.

"Ferret Boy's being friendly with Hermione, I CAN'T STAND IT!"

"Calm down and go to sleep!" George advised him.

To himself, when the dormitory was quiet again, he added:

"I know, I'll challenge Malfoy to a duel for Hermione."

Hermione, once around the 3rd week of May, and before the Inter-House Quidditch Cup semi-finals, was in Snape's private study for a special lesson, she was going to block Snape from seeing inside her mind while he was using Legilimency on her. Now she was already skilled enough with these 2 Arts if done seperately, but not combined with each other, like Dumbledore had planned for her. As she got to know the Head of Slytherin and her Defence against the Dark Arts' teacher better, she felt extremely sorry for ever doubting his loyalties: he was really an ex-Death-Eater, trying to break free completely from the Dark Mark. She asked him:

"Sir, is there a way to free someone completely from the Dark Mark? And I apologize to you, on Harry's and Ron's behalf, for doubting your loyalties to the Light side."

"Albus's been trying to find a way, but apparently, he hasn't found one yet. Now, let's try it again, Granger".

"_Legilimens_!" He non-verbally and wandlessly cast it on her mind.

"_Occlumens_!" She hasn't quite mastered Occlumency just yet and so Snape was able to see something in her mind, her memory with Draco Malfoy, in her 3rd year, when she punched him in the face for calling a 'Mudblood':

"_Mudblood!" Malfoy attacked her verbally with._

_After she, Harry and Ron had been at Hagrid's. She punched him square on his face for calling her that. She was feeling down, and was lividly angry at him for that, so she thought to deal with him the Muggle way. She's never been so much insulted in her whole life._

"_Don't, let's go, Hermione, he isn't worth it!" Ron said to her, soothingly. She cooled down. But boy, it felt good to punch him in the face!_

After Snape gradually pulled himself out from her mind, he advised her:

"Block your feelings, all your emotions, and let everything go blank in your mind, that's how Occlumency works! You're almost there, but you'll need to fully master it for the Dark Lord to be unaware of you being in His mind! Let's try this again!"

"_Legilimens_!"

This time, she did as Snape asked. She let her mind go completely blank, blocking off her innermost secrets from him fully. And the Head of Slytherin saw nothing from her mind.

"Finally! We'll need to practice it some more, though! Done for today!"

The Headmaster checked on her on week-ends about her progress with Legilimency/Occlumency, so there she was again, in his gold and red bureau. Snape was there too, reporting her progress to him:

"The girl has potential. She has such a strength of mind… I am really pleasantly surprised with how far she's gone, from a total beginner, to a master of both Skills…"

"It is so unusual of you to compliment anyone, Severus. Things have gotten better between you and her, I suppose?" asked Dumbledore mischievously.

"Yes, I think she too, feels different about me. Oh, Granger, welcome, how have you been since the last lesson?"

"Although I've been thoroughly worn out due to your invading my mind, after a good 12 hours of deep sleep, using the Time-Turner, I am better, thank you for asking, Professor. So you've been talking about me with the Headmaster?"

"Yes, Miss Granger." Dumbledore answered for Snape.

"Severus's been saying some good things about you, that you're taking your lessons to heart and seriously. I am very very happy about that. He's also been telling me that you're able to pierce through his mind, even when he's using Occlumency on you, but you'll need work on fully mastering Occlumency, when he's the one attacking your mind, using Legilimency on yours."

"Yes, I've been having some difficulties with that, I need some advice on how to block it when he's using the highest level of Legilimency on me. I think, it's because of my emotions, isn't it?"

"Coupled with the facts that you're too human, too compassionate and too forgiving, as opposed to others, who are naturals at blocking their feelings and thoughts to outsiders' attacks." Snape explained further more to her.

"Right, so one needs to be a cold-blooded animal like Lucius Malfoy and completely void of all human feelings, to be a master at Occlumency?

"Yes, precisely or be able to conceal them from the Legilimens's mind invasion."

"Thank you for the advice, Professor. I have some other things I'd like to discuss with you both—"

"That'll wait. I have things to talk about with Severus too, Miss Granger." The Headmaster dismissed her.

While she was having a discussion with the Head of Slytherin House and the Head of Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy, in the Slytherin's boy dormitories got an owl, signed Ronald Weasley, it read:

"_To Draco Malfoy, Slytherin's boy dorm, bed 7_

_Draco Malfoy, I Ronald Weasley, am challenging you to a duel. Time: midnight sharp, after the Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch semi-finals. Location: Divination Tower._

_From:_

_Ronald Weasley."_

Chapter end note: Will Draco go to Ron's duel or not? What will Pansy do to Hermione? R&amp;R TO FIND OUT, PLEASE, THANK YOU, KISSES!


	12. Chapter 12

Draco Malfoy got the Challenge to a duel from Ronald Weasley. He ignored it, as he's got so many more things on his mind, like thinking about his first friend in Gryffindor: Hermione Granger. As things progressed from total enmity to a fragile friendship between them, he vowed to never do anything to break her trust and friendship in him. "_No doubt, she probably even defended me when her two friends insulted me or called me names as I've been doing for her, but secretly with the Slytherins who would call her a 'Mudblood" still._"

He now understood this: a Witch or a Wizard's talent is not to be measured by his or her blood purity, but by a his or her Will's connection with his or her wand. Young Witches and Wizards need their wands to cast spells, because their Willpower was still too weak to perform wandless spells. He remembered, as he thought about this, he had seen a wandless and non-verbal Duel between two Pure-bloods, competing for a Greengrass's hand in marriage.

However, since he's been raised in this mindset his whole life, it was still hard for him to accept there were Muggle-borns in this world. He couldn't understand why Muggle parents could have Witches and Wizards as children, just he couldn't grasp why Pure-blood parents had Squibs for children. Growing up in a Pure-blood's house, he always thought Squibs and Muggle-borns were abominations in the Wizarding World. And many Dark Wizards, or Death-Eaters, openly shared his opinions about them. And the Dark Lord pushed this ideology to it's limits: he thought all Muggle-borns and Muggles must die, for the "real" Wizards and Witches, the Pure-bloods to be safe from them. And how did he, Draco Malfoy know this? Because Lucius often taught him about this in his childhood, when he was done with a Death-Eater's conference. So that was why he wasn't able to rest well, since these gloomy thoughts made him fear for his new friend's life.

So in the morning, he couldn't stay focused in Potions': they were being how to make Amortentia, the Love Potion or Elixir. Professor Slughorn had given him a grand total of 0 for his half-finished potion. And as usual, Hermione brewed it flawlessly and even answered the theoretical question before that.

"Well done, Miss Granger, 50 points to Gryffindor for answering the question correctly and making a more-than perfect Amortentia. As you know, this potion is required for your N.E.W.T.S this month of June. As for you, Mr. Malfoy, since you've not made it properly, you will have detentions tonight and finish the potion as an extra assignment. Today's assignment will be about the theory behind the Amortentia potion and I want a nicely researched essay on it, got it, everyone?"

"Yes Professor." Potions with the Gryffindors was over. Hermione found him after class and asked him:

"What's wrong with you, Mal—Draco?"

"You still have some trouble calling me by my first name, I see, but I was preoccupied by dark thoughts about you, actually, I was restless last night."

"Why?"

"Because I fear I might lose you, Hermione, you're my first friend in Gryffindor, and I don't think I am worthy of your friendship and trust and…" He was starting to ramble, Hermione cut him off:

"And why are you fearing for my life?"

"I'll be blunt about it: the Dark Lord won't rest until all the Muggles and Muggle-borns are killed in this world, because he thinks only the Pure-bloods deserve to live. And I fear for you because you're Muggle-born, so in His eyes, worthless dirt."

"Thank you for your concern, Draco, but Dumbledore, your Godfather and I have plans to thwart his impossible dream."

"You've changed so much since the first time I met you, in my first year. As for me, I really wish and think the 2 worlds can coexist in peace."

"Me too, that's also my wish. And about your remark about me changing so much, it's not that I've changed so drastically, but rather because the real me, was suppressed for so long under my father's teachings, 16 years. As you know, he wanted me to walk in his footsteps, to be him, yet I didn't want to, but I was too afraid of him to resist him as my Mother was too. But my Mother, with the Light side's help, was finally able to get him out of her life and mine, and things have been so much better for the both of us since my father's sentence in Azkaban".

"I am delighted to hear that. And can I ask you a more discreet question?"

"Yes, go ahead."

"This has been on my mind ever since you've asked me to be my friend, I'll be very direct and straightforward with you, do you have the Dark Mark, like your Godfather does?"

"Yes, but I've been looking for a way to remove it since 2 years now, because I've been forced by own father to get it, but I got some sort of 'mock Dark Mark', something the Dark Lord used to make fun of the Death-Eaters who fell from grace. My father has one, but his is the real one."

"Does it hurt, and does it burn whenever he calls you?"

"Yes, it stings, and burns more than the real one and you'll have to understand, the Dark Lord loves to inflict pain on those who displeased him. And I displeased him, when I testified against my father, siding along with my Mother. After my Father's Trial/Hearing, my Mock Mark burnt, intensely. I've been thinking of a way to get rid it ever since my renouncing the Dark Side. But a Dark Wizard or a Dark Witch who has been Marked, cannot truly renounce it until he or she has gotten rid of the Dark Mark."

"And have you found a way to do it? I want to help you and Professor Snape both. I know he is a good man, just as you are."

"Thank you, but no thanks, you can't, it's almost impossible for an ex-Death-Eater to be entirely free from the Dark side's clutches."

"Don't say that, there is always a way, and we'll find it, together, Harry, Ron, you, Dumbledore and I."

"Don't be too pessimistic about it, you'll be disappointed if you find out that you can't."

"There must be a way!" she said determinately.

"No, stop this, you'll put yourself in danger if you try." He tried to discourage her from it, but she still said:

"A challenge, Draco? Just you watch, I'll free you from the Dark Mark completely, because I know, in your heart, you've totally renounced the Dark side." She swore to find out how when she'll be in the Dark Lord's mind. If she knew how he made it, there might be a way out of it.

"I thank you for your trust, but I'm telling you, you can't. And anyway, in your immediate future, there are more urgent matters for now, than that, for example, how are you going to handle Weasley's and Parkinson's jealousies?"

"Ron's jealous? How do YOU know?"

"He has sent me an owl, and in it, he challenged me to a Duel, he didn't say why, but I think it's because of you and Pansy's been ranting about you in the Slytherin Common Room."

"He's mental! Don't tell me you plan on accepting his Challenge?"

"Yes, I do, I will need to tell I don't have any romantic feelings towards you, and if I do, maybe he'll back off on me. And as for Pansy, what are your plans concerning her?"

"Don't worry about Parkinson, worry about Ron. I don't think he'll listen to you."

"Like you, I do have my own plans for him."

"Right then, see you in Defence against the Dark Arts."

In Defence against the Dark Arts, they were learning about how to protect one self from Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse and one of the Unforgivables. Professor Snape began his lecture:

"As you all know, this Curse is the Killing Curse, because it kills people instantly after it's cast. But there are ways, for exceedingly skilled Wizards and Witches to deflect it, such as Occlumency and the Disarming Charm, as well as other Levitation Charms and even Finite Incantatem. But those spells must be cast quickly."

"How Sir?" asked one Hufflepuff student.

"How? For example, before the Dark Witch or Wizard finishes the Incantation, you can Levitate an Object towards the Curse Caster and smash his or her wand with it, or you can Disarm him or her first, before he or she even starts casting. And why can 'Finite Incantatem' work on the Killing Curse? Who can tell me?"

"Because it finishes a spell's effects. And there are more ways to deflect a Killing Curse, such as

Powerful Shielding Wards, stronger than Protego, that protect Hogwarts' grounds." She said as if she was reciting it from a book. Indeed, she had read in full "_Hogwarts, a History_" and even it's 2nd or 3rd book.

A week's gone by since her private little chat with Malfoy, er Draco now. What prompted her to practice her newly acquired mental abilities was that Pansy made her Potion go wrong in one of her numerous potion classes. She decided it was time for her to do something about it. _"It can't go on any further like this between her and me. I have to make her fall for someone else than Draco." _She didn't, however choose Crabbe for her, as she thought the two weren't for each other. Instead she chose Nott.

So she practiced her skills in Legilimency on the unsuspecting Pansy Parkinson while the latter was in the Slytherin's girl's toilet. She saw she really had deep feelings and an infatuation for Draco and thought he liked her, and she discovered something more astonishing too: she was betrothed to him since birth. "Woah! no wonder why she got extremely upset when Draco had been close to her after his Father's trial!" The marriage was arranged by Lucius Malfoy and Pansy's father, however and Draco was none too willing to accept her even then, and Pansy well, had been pining after Draco since they were little children.

"Poor Draco! There must be a way out of this!" Draco was her friend, but he still kept his love life private from her and everyone else. "_Like a true Malfoy!_" She thought to herself.

So she decided to influence Pansy's feelings for him, telling her:

"_You can do better than Malfoy, even if he doesn't want you, you can still have someone in your life. Your life doesn't revolve around him._" She said to Pansy mentally. She argued back:

"But I'm his betrothed, he can't not want me!"

"_You should have more self-respect for yourself, you deserve someone better than him, like Nott, for example_!"

"Y_es, I deserve someone better, and Nott's hotter than Drakie-Poo_! _But I'm still his fiancee_!" Pansy thought she was talking back to herself, but in reality, she was fighting with Hermione, who was inside her head, as an Insider.

"_You should call off the wedding, since he isn't so willing to marry you! You should seriously consider Nott, as a suitable candidate for you. He is a Pure-Blood and comes from one of the most Prominent wizarding families too!_"

"_But I can't, Father and Mother will be mad at me for it!_" She responded mentally back to Hermione.

"_You have the freedom and will to choose, as a person, whoever you want to be with as well! You must think about your happiness, is Draco who you truly and really want or is it Nott?_" Hermione asked her.

"_I want Nott._" She said more definitely this time.

Parkinson was unaware Hermione was influencing her thoughts and feelings about Draco, someone she considered a friend, but who didn't love her back. She thought upon hearing about the Love Potion in class, to use on Draco, but since it can't create love technically, it can only make Draco infatuated with her. Yet she wanted Draco's true love, and now agreed with the voice inside of her it was best to let him go, even if it meant she didn't get him. But now, she had another love interest: Nott.

She hoped he will like her. In her childhood, she fancied both Blaise and Draco, as both were equally hot, rich and sexy. But after the mental battle with herself or so she thought it was herself who thought that, she decided rich, hot and sexy were not qualities to consider for when choosing a life partner.

Hermione, having pulled out from Parkinson's mind, knew her final decisions concerning Draco.

"Great, it's now time to play with Nott's thoughts and feelings." As she explored Theodore Nott's head, she unravelled a lot of secrets from him, to use to her advantage in this. For example, that he had secret feelings for Miss Parkinson.

"How cute, I'll influence him to pursue her romantically, now that ought to take her mind off Draco." She also started to think of Malfoy more and more in terms of "Draco" and not "Malfoy". She thought about how things between them have progressed from enmity and hostility, to trust and friendship. She liked the new and real Draco she was seeing. He was showing it more and more as well, not only in private, but also in public. "_With his pride, I think he's going to be too scared to be too open, but his mother wants him to be completely free from anyone's orders and wants him to be him, and not somebody else, as she wrote in her letter to him._"

Hermione's thoughts often wondered if his "Mock Dark Mark" can be removed from his forearm completely. If there was a way to free him completely from the Dark Lord's grasp. But now he renounced the Dark side and could openly help the Light, and she realized how much he's changed from being her total enemy to being her friend, maybe not one of her best friends, but still he cared about her, like Harry and Ron did. She realized the true him is much more mature than his bully-self, buried deep inside of him. She wanted to see him free, and making every decisions out of his own free will. To achieve that, she needed to find a way to get rid of his Mock Dark Mark. But to do that, she needed to know how and why is the Dark Mark created in the first place.

With these thoughts on her mind, she went to the Headmaster's for the usual check-up on week-ends, after she plunged herself with studies, and assignments on the Friday before.

"Hello, Headmaster, I can be an Insider now, having practiced it on Professor Snape often enough. I am very proud of my achievements with Legilimency/Occlumency."

"Very well, Severus's been telling me that too, do you have any questions, concerning the plans and everything?"

"About our plans, no. But about something else, yes. Can a "Mock Dark Mark" be removed totally from a Marked Witch or Wizard?"

"How do you know about this?" A very surprised Snape asked her.

"Draco told me himself when I asked. He's said it's to deride a Death-Eater fallen from grace. You-know-who will use it as a way to ridicule he or she."

"Let me tell you more about the Dark Mark firstly, Granger. The Dark Mark is created to summon

Death-Eaters to his side, when he is returning to power. It is extremely difficult to remove a Dark Mark from an ex Death-Eater's arm, and to remove a Mock Mark, is almost impossible. I don't know how these are created, but you might find the answers while you're in the Dark Lord's mind."

"That's what I thought to do, Professor Snape."

"Brilliant plan. You will find out why, and how he has made these, and even the connection with the Horcruxes and why Harry's mind is connected to his."

"I already know why, Headmaster, it's because Harry himself is one and he intended to put all of His 7 souls in Harry, not only the One. But something must have gone wrong in the process."

"Yes, correct you will find out what, when you'll be in His mind. And then, you'll be able to free Mr. Malfoy, your new friend from his 'Mock Mark'."

Snape, although he was thinking it, he kept it inside of him: "Know-it-all, bookworm. Probably has read '_Of Horcruxes and Dark Objects_.'"

While they were all in Dumbledore's spacious Headmaster's office, Harry having a bad dream, or a nightmare about Lord Voldemort:

"_Rodolphus, my faithful servant, come forward. You have been one of the most faithful of my servants, now tell me, what do you want as a reward? You've been the guardian of my Horcruxes and you've been helping me with the search of the Deathly Hollows. " _

"_My Lord, serving you, is my ultimate reward. I don't need anything more."  
_

"_Don't lie to me, Rodolphus, I know you want something for your service to me. Everybody, who has agreed to serve me, want something in return: either societal status, or higher knowledge and power. What is it I can give you as a reward?" Lord Voldemort was insisting. _

"_I just want one thing: Narcissa Malfoy. She betrayed her whole family, including my wife, Bellatrix Lestrange." Rodolphus, was contorted with anger when he said this to his Lord. _

"_But how, no doubt, she has put Protection Charms and Wards around the Malfoy Manor, so you can't go in now." _

Harry overhead in his dreams the private get-together between Rodolphus Lestrange and Lord Voldemort. "I must go to the Headmaster's and discuss things with him". He decided after he awoke from his premonitory nightmare. As The-Boy-who-lived was heading to the Headmaster's, Draco Malfoy was replying to Ronald Weasley's owl: he said he accepted his Challenge, choosing Zabini and Blaise as his Seconds.

Harry now climbed the staircase to the Headmaster's, stunned to find Hermione and his Defence against the Dark Art's teacher all there.

"Harry!" gasped Hermione.

"Hermione!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I came here because I just had a dream about Lord Voldemort and Rodolphus Lestrange talking about Mrs. Malfoy.

"Well, my boy, it must be urgent, do tell me, what did you exactly see in your dream?"

"Lord Voldemort was asking Roldolphus Lestrange what he wanted and he said he only wanted Narcissa Malfoy dead for her betrayal. I think, he plans on attacking her while she's in her home."

"Do you know when?"

"He didn't say."

"And just one question, in my dream, Lord Voldemort was also talking about Horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows, what are they, Headmaster? Why is He after them?"

"That, I believe Miss Granger will explain everything to you, as she knows more than you on the subject at hand."

Hermione, all the while silent, finally spoke up:

"So, you believe me now, when I say Mrs. Malfoy and Draco are on our side now? Can you try and convince Ron?"

"Yes, you were right, Hermione. I was wrong. I'm glad to see that now. I am will to give them a chance, but I can't promise anything for Ron. And anyway, I don't think he'd listen to me, when it comes to the Malfoys, he thinks they're pure evil."

"Please don't change the subject, you two, we're here to talk about Horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows and how to save Mrs. Malfoy from her brother in-law's attack on her. Now Horcruxes, to put simply, are Dark Objects where one can put a fragment of one's soul in. And as I told your friend, Miss Granger before, he has made 7 of them, with you being one of them, Harry, my boy. And as for the Deathy Hallows, they are 3 magical items: the Elder Wand, the Invisibility Cloak and the Resurrection Stone."

"Is that what I saw at Draco's father's Hearing, Headmaster?"

"Yes. And I believe Riddle is after these things, because He wants to be invincible and He believes getting the Hallows would make Him immortal. Alas, the Hallows and the Horcruxes don't work this way and some of his original plan has backfired on Him already. Miss Granger, Severus Snape and I had been putting a plan to convince Him to give up on Immortality, Invincibility and his perspectives on Muggle-borns and Muggles. Please don't be mad at her, she's sworn she'd keep these things secret from you two from the start."

"I understand, Headmaster. Although I am not mad at Hermione, please tell me how is she going to achieve that?"

"By going back in time, and change the course of events in Tom Marvolo Riddle's life. Professor Dumbledore believes he can be saved from the Darkness within Him."

"That's a crazy plan! What if something goes wrong? And just how are going to change his early life?"

"Under Professor Snape's tutelage, I've been studying Legilimency and Occlumency. The plan is for me to be inside You-know-who's eyes, and to see the World through His eyes, understand Him and to make Him change."

"That's crazyness, Hermione! What if he finds out and tortures you into insanity or something else?"

"Everything is carefully planned, don't worry He won't know I am in His mind because I'll be using Occlumency to block my mind from His. I've already practiced this a few times with Professor Snape!" Hermione calmed his concerns about her.

"This is still too dangerous for you!"

"Enough, Harry, I've accepted my Mission and have gone back in the past already for Draco!"

"So, he's Draco for you now, eh?" asked Harry wearily.

"Please, if you want to discuss about heart affairs, this isn't the place for this." Snape interrupted their argument.

"Good night, Professor, Headmaster."

On the way to the Gryffindor's Tower, they were saying to each other:

"By the way, Harry, Ron's Challenged Draco to a Duel after the Quidditch's semi-finals, you should find a way to stop these two from Duelling each other, as they'll each lose a lot of Housepoints if they do."

"I'll try my hardest, Hermione. But Ron's never going to come around. You know how prejudiced he is with the Malfoys."

"And he's more stubborn than a mule!" she declared.

PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT MY FIC! I DON'T CARE IF IT'S NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE! CRITIC AND TALK ABOUT PLOTHOLES, CHARACTERIZATION AND WHATNOT, THANK YOU ALL!


	13. Chapter 13

As Harry and Hermione went to bed, she was thinking about the Horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows. She knew Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy had been tentatively using the Resurrection Stone for You-know-who to get a body, but it didn't work on His corpse. "Why? Something must have gone wrong, or was it because of his Soul, being too fragmented that He cannot use the Resurrection Stone to get a full body?" She guessed part of it right. She hated it when explanations were incomplete and imperfect. She was wide awake still, when it was 3 in the morning.

As for Draco, he was musing about different things than her totally, that night, before falling asleep: he was thinking about why there were Muggle-borns, Squibs, Witches and Wizards and Muggles in this world, now he got rid of the prejudice that Muggle-borns weren't "real witches and wizards." Why did different people exist in the World? Try as he might, he didn't get satisfactory answers to his philosophical questions. Hermione, he pondered, would also be thinking about such important matters before she drifted to the land of dreams.

And more often than not, at night, he would think about her, in a very positive way now that he regarded her as a Witch, and not a Muggle-Born or a "Mudblood", as he used to. He despised that word now, he couldn't not understand how she could forgive him, when he had been so mean to her, all those 6 years. And because of her and his Mother, he really wasn't afraid to be the real him even in public, and not his father, Lucius Malfoy. When he was thinking about these things, he almost forgot he had a Duel with Weasley after the Quidditch semi-finals.

One particular day, in the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry, Ron and Hermione, had free periods after classes. And Harrry straightforwardly asked her:

"So, mind telling me what you know about Horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows and why you think I am one?"

"I've been reading about them, Dumbledore lent me a book especially on them. Horcruxes are extremely Dark Objects, used to store one's 7 Souls in an Object. It could be anything: a bracelet, a charm or whatever….And as for the Deathly Hallows, I've no idea what they are, but I've seen the Resurrection Stone being used on You-know-who by Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange at Malfoy Sr's Hearing."

"Why 7 souls?" Ron shot up.

"I forgot to mention, a Wizard or a Witch can only split one's Soul in 7 parts, because it's the maximum before one damages one's Soul completely beyond any possible repair."

"Okay, that sounds really nice for You-know-who and why in Merlin would anybody use these?" added Ron sarcastically.

"Because one can, retrieve the 7 Souls from the 7 Horcruxes, and get them all in one Horcrux after Death and have a full body with the 'Host', the 'Host' being the one who has the 'Splitter's 7 Souls. 'The Splitter' is the one who split his or her Soul in 7. The Headmaster and I believe he intended to do this with Harry, but something went wrong while he was making these, and I'm going back in the past, to try and find out what exactly was wrong and convince Him not to create these things, that was, by the way, Dumbledore's idea."

"What?! I am firmly against this risky idea! What was Dumbledore thinking when he asked you to do this!" protested Ron.

"Ron, I've already accepted my Mission and already helped Draco change, by going in the past! I want to do the same for Tom Marvolo Riddle!"

"You're calling Him by His first name?! You're way too naive if you think you can change Him, He isn't even human, Mione!"

"But, he is Tom Marvolo Riddle after all, and not 'Lord Voldemort'. I think I'd better tell you everything from the beginning. Dumbledore believes He has 2 'People' inside of Him: 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' and 'Lord Voldemort' battling against each other for 1 Body because of the Horcruxes He created. And I'm going back in time and in His mind, to understand how and why 'Lord Voldemort' came to be and to help him destroy 'Lord Voldemort' and be 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' again."

"It's too dangerous for you, Mione! I won't let you do this!"

"I know you're worried about me, but no more arguing about what's settled between Dumbledore and I, Ron!"

"Just a question, Hermione, how are the Horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows linked?" This time, Harry piped up.

"Harry, I already said: he made the Horcruxes to have his 7 Souls in one Body: you, Harry, and that's why you can have dreams about Him and His emotions. As for the Deathly Hallows, all I know about them, is a Witch or a Wizard can be the 'Master of Death' after possessing all 3 of them. So I guess, because He is after immortality, He thinks He will be immortal after owning them all. At least, that's what I guessed from Dumbledore's clues to me. And I've no idea how they are connected with those Horcruxes of His, this is what I'm going to find out when I'll be in Tom's head."

"And why do you think I am one of those Horcruxes?" Harry really wanted to know.

"Because you have all the symptoms I've read in the book: you can have dreams about Him, you can sense even His feelings when you're dreaming about Him and you can at times, see what He thinks and feels as well."

"But it's not certain that I am one!"

"Yes you are one, for sure! Dumbledore thinks so too!"

"And Mione, what can we do to help you and just how exactly do you plan to go in His mind and convince not to make these things and to be 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' again?" asked Ron. He sincerely wanting to do everything to help his crush. Now, he didn't deny anything anymore: he truly had a huge crush on her.

"Nothing, really, and I've been studying Legilimency/Occlumency for this: I am going to go inside His mind and influence His feelings and His thoughts and everything else. And Ron, please tell me you don't plan to go to the Challenge you set up against Draco!"

"Draco, so you're on first name basis with him, now? And I am going to go, no matter what you two say about him! I want to set things straight with him between him and me about you, Hermione, just how do you know about this?!"

"I talked to him and he told me himself. And please don't go, think about the Housecup and everything!"

"Hermione, let him go! He needs to sort things out with Malfoy, all by himself." Harry said.

"Why are you encouraging his rashness and foolishness? He could be costing our House Cup if he did go! And besides, I don't want him to hurt Draco as I do consider him a friend now."

"So we should be friends with him too, is that what you are saying?"

"No, but you should civil to each other, since we really are all on the same side!" As Hermione was defending Malfoy, Ron's face was becoming redder and redder with rage. He stormed out the Common Room.

"RON, RON!" She called after him.

"Let him go, and let him duel Malfoy, he needs to overcome his preconceived ideas concerning Malfoy himself, we can't do much for him!"

"And please, Harry, do try to change Ron's mind about Draco, he really has gone through a lot in his life, from his Father's abuse of him, both magically and non-magically, to his being Marked unwillingly and everything else. He is really trying to change for the better. And did you know, Harry, that his Mark is a 'Mock one'?"

"No, and what is a 'Mock one'? And since you do really trust him and seem to sympathize with him now, I'll try to change Ron's mind about him, but I can't promise anything, as I said already, he is extremely stubborn and really thinks the Malfoy lot are 'the most evil', to quote him."

"A 'Mock Dark Mark', is similar to the real 'Dark Mark' in shape, form and everything else, but Draco said He uses it to deride the fallen Death-Eaters or those who failed Him. I don't know much about these myself, but I want to free Draco from this, so please help me with Ron's judgement of him."

"You're right, Hermione, I will make an extra effort with Ron, but really you shouldn't expect anything really soon, it's going to take a lot for him to overcome his bad ideas about him."

"Yeah, do your best, Harry and thank you."

"That's what friends are for, Hermione, no need to thank me."

Harry, after his dream about Rodolphus Lesgtrange and Lord Voldemort's private talking, really sympathized with Malfoy's Mother. But unlike Hermione, he wasn't at Lucius Malfoy's Trial and Hearing, so he didn't hear her tragic story, told from her point of view. And there were some things he didn't know about her as well, as he didn't read her letter to her son, as his friend did, so he couldn't feel as much sympathy for her as he would like. But he was gradually changing his point of view about the two remaining Malfoys. And since Hermione liked Draco as a friend, he was willing to give him a chance, although everything started so very wrongly between them.

It was nearing the Quidditch Cup's semi-finals now. After the semi-finals was the finals, and then the Final Examinations in June, which every Wizard and Witch should take most seriously. With lessons, homework and extra revising, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco barely saw the time pass. But, they had more important things to do than worrying about their final exams, they had to uncover what went wrong in Riddle's life, for Him to become Tom Riddle again and solve these mysteries revolving around the Deathly Hallows and the Horcruxes once and for all, so the Wizarding World could be in peace with the Muggle-World.

At the Quidditch's semi-finals, Slytherin vs Gryffindor, Gryffindor defeated Slytherin, even with Ron being Seeker on the team. After the match, Harry tried to talk Ron out of going to a Duel with Malfoy. He just said:

"Harry, why are you siding with her on this?!"

"I'm not siding with her, I'm just doing this for your sake, please Ron, don't go, and besides, you'll lose us the Housecup, if Filch caught you Duelling Malfoy! And where have you set your secret rendez-vous'?"

"I'm not telling you." Ron was starting to distrust Harry, and accused him of "siding with Hermione."

A fuelled with rage Ron was there, in the North Tower, waiting for Malfoy to come. The grand clock was ticking Midnight, and his arch-rival was one minute late. Ron thought: "Would he chicken out on me?" Just then, he saw Draco Malfoy climbing the staircase to the Tower, with his two Seconds.

"I'm surprised you didn't come with any Seconds, Weasley."

"I'm good enough to defeat you alone, Malfoy." Ron said back to him.

"Look, Weasley, I didn't come here to Duel you, I came here to talk about Hermione with you."

"Hermione, don't you dare say her first name, you've been calling her a Mudblood for bloody 6 years!"

"About that, I've changed. And are you not aware, I am on the Light side now. And I really don't wish to Duel you, you could end up in the Hospital Wing, Weasley." He was taunting Ron now.

"It's hard for me to believe you!"

"Merlin, just how thick can you be? I publicly testified against Lucius Malfoy with my Mother, to put him and my own blooded aunt in Azkaban!"

"Doesn't change the fact that you're a Death-Eater!"

"I could care less about what you think of me, Weasley, really."

Before they could start the Duel, however, Professors Mcgonagall and Snape were alerted by Hermione and Harry about this. As they didn't know where this would occur, and since Ron absolutely refused to tell Harry about it's location, even when he tried to coax it out of him, so they couldn't be there at Midnight sharp.

Snape had to use his Legilimency gift to dive into Ronald Weasley's mind to find out about where he set his midnight meeting.

"In the Divination Tower, everybody, come with me, now!" Snape simply said to the rest.

And they followed the Defence against the Dark Arts Professor to said place. Snape, Mcgonagall, Harry and Hermione all ran to the North Tower. It was five minutes after 12. They prayed they didn't come too late. Hermione heard them talking about her in a corner. And she said to her Professors:

"Let me go and try to convince Ron to stop the Duel!"

"He won't listen to any reason now, Granger!" Mcgonagall told her.

"No, let me go to him! He will listen to me! After all, I'm the reason why this Duel took place in the first place. I should be the one to end it between them!"

"Minerva, let Granger go. Maybe she'll be able to talk some sense into him…"

"Fine, Severus, but should something happen to her…"

And Hermione saw Ron and Draco talking to each other only. "_Thank Merlin they haven't started duelling each other yet!_" She thought, her heart was now beating so fast it could get out of her chest any second.

"Hey, you two, drop this insanity now before both of you lose any Housepoints!"

"HERMIONE?!" Both shouted.

"Yes, it's me, Ron! Please drop your wand now! Listen to me: I don't have any romantic feelings towards him and he doesn't like me that way either! We're just friends, who care a lot about each other, like you, me and Harry!"

"Just friends, huh?" said Ron stupidly.

"Yes friends, Weasley, I don't like Hermione like that either!" As Draco said this, a voice inside his mind fought with him about that. But he told it to shut up.

"What about the public hug you gave her then?" Ron stubbornly asked.

"Oh that! You're angry about that! It was platonic moral support! Can't friends hold each other close too? Like you and Hermione? Or Potter and her, after a Quidditch match?"

"Yes… true. But don't you bloody hell get too close to Hermione!" And with that, he left the Divination Tower, without duelling Malfoy, who, he still saw as his arch-nemesis in school, and his arch-rival in love.

After he left the Tower, Hermione spoke to Malfoy about the incident:

"I'm very sorry about Ron, he could be a pain in the ass, sometimes! Don't you mind him, Draco and thank you, for talking to him instead of harming him!"

"That's all right, and I did this for you, really, not for him."

"Thank you anyway." Harry was there too, after his best mate left the place. And he had something very important to tell Malfoy, but he let Hermione finish first.

"Just by the way, Malfoy, we might not be friends yet, but I care about your Mother too and I have something to tell you about her, she's going to be attacked by Rodolphus Lestrange, your maternal uncle by marriage and husband to Bellatrix Lestrange, your maternal aunt, right now in Azkaban."

"How do you know this and how can I trust it to be true, Potter? And why are you telling me this even though we're not friends, as you said yourself?"

"Because like Hermione, I don't want anyone to be hurt. And I dreamt about Lord Voldemort and your maternal uncle talking in private."

"Don't say His name, Potter, you'll get us all killed!" said Draco, looking really frightened.

"Fine, I'll say You-know-who, then. Anyways, I was dreaming about You-know-who and Rodolphus Lestrange, he was saying he wanted her dead and he was planning to kidnap her or to attack in Malfoy Manor."

Draco, Hermione saw, became more alert, at his Mother's mention. He asked Harry:

"Do you know when, so we could prevent it from happening?"

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't see when, but I felt your Uncle's hate for your Mother in my dream about them."

"Thank you for notifying me about this, Potter." Harry, really astounded by his politeness, just nodded, and said to Hermione:

"Let's go and have some sleep."

"Yes." She agreed and left Draco alone.

The following days, in class, Draco wondered about Potter's strange and odd behaviour's towards him, maybe it was Hermione's doings. "_He cares too much about people, one day that's going to be his downfall… and when in Salazar's name did I start to care about my arch-nemesis's well-being_?" A voice inside of him responded: "_Because you've truly changed, Draco. You never thought you'd care about Granger, yet you did. And now you're starting to realize how prejudiced you were about them. You've begun to respect Harry because he really cares about your Mother. You could all be friends, one day, not just partners_." Draco snorted at that. "_Yes, I may somewhat respect him now for that, but that doesn't mean I want to be friends with him yet. My Malfoy pride was hurt when he rejected my friendship in my first year._"

It was now the Quidditch finals. Gryffindor, as usual won easily against Slytherin, even with Draco as a Seeker on the team. And after the Quidditch Cup, it was the final exams. Hermione, he saw, was often frowning. He commented to himself on her: "_Probably she's worried sick about the Exams and I'm pretty sure she'll pass everything with an 'O'._"

The school year was finally over, each of them finally went on Platform 9 and 3/4. This year, though, Ravenclaw won the House Cup.

But what Draco didn't know was that they, being Ron, Harry and Hermione, all went to Grimmauld's place, rather than each of their respective home, because it was safer for all of them. And plus, they could talk things over with the Order of the Phoenix about how to defeat Lord Voldemort more precisely and how to protect Narcissa Malfoy from Rodolphus Lestrange's thirst for avenging his wife, Bellatrix Lestrange.

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND COMMENT! AS ALWAYS, I APPRECIATE THEM, NO MATTER IN WHAT FORM!


	14. Chapter 14

It was Summer in the Malfoy Manor. Draco was just trying to concentrate on a spell in his beautifully and richly decorated room of silver and green. He thought these colours would not appeal to Hermione, the Gryffindor Princess. Funny he now referred to her as a "Princess", and funny how much he admired her now for her courage and intelligence, when before her involvement with his private life, he called her a "Mudblood". And it was truly amazing how his wrong perceptions about her have changed so much, in the span of a few months.

His Mother always knew when he was thinking about Hermione Granger, because he would not listen to her whenever she talked to him about anything. For example, he was just having dinner today with her and some House-Elves had brought over some magical liquors and set the table. And his Mother was asking about how he's been:

"Draco, dear, how have you been since my last owl to you?"

"Mother, everything is fine, I'm just trying to concentrate on things. But I can't."

"Care to tell me why?"

"Because I've been thinking about you."

"And why, my dearest Dragon?"

"Mother, don't call me that please. I'm almost a grown up man."

"It's my special nickname for you, because you've been my Dragon ever since you were born. So tell me about why you've been thinking about me?"

"Because Potter told me you'd be in grave and serious danger. He had seen Rodolphus Lestrange, talking to the Dark Lord, wanting you dead."

"Wanting me dead, why would he want that?"

"Because you've put his wife into Azkaban, all according to Potter. And I'm really scared for your life, Mother. I bet you've never thought about the consequences of putting your own sister into the Wizarding prison, yes?"

"No, I really haven't thought it through, I'll admit, Draco. And how did Potter know this?"

"Because he's had a dream about the Dark Lord and Uncle Rodolphus talking, like I said before."

"Did Potter say when he would?"

"No, he said he didn't know, Mother."

"Right, don't worry, my Dragon, I'll be ready when your Uncle Rodolphus's going to come for me. There are some other things you want to tell me, yes?"

Unknown to him, though, was that his Mother had already put some Charms and some Protection Wards around their home, forbidding Death-Eaters like Macnair, Dolohov, Nott and the rest to be in the Manor. She didn't want to use the Fidelius Charm yet, as she didn't know who to choose for a Secret-Keeper.

"Yes, I want the engagement to the Parkinsons cancelled too, you know I can't stand Pansy. And how she's annoying and all that, I've even in public rejected her and she wouldn't take the hint?"

"I'll see what I can do for you, my Dragon. And what do you feel now towards Miss Granger?" His Mother asked, rather directly.

"I feel different about her, but she says we're just friends, I think I want something more though, I am unsure about her feelings for me, she might have some for Weasley, with the way she looks at him sometimes!"

"My Dragon, so unsure about what you feel, that must new for you, and even frightening at times, am I right?" His mother hit the nail with it about his internal insecurities.

"Yes, I've always been so proud of myself, I've always known what to do, what to feel and even what to say… and I'm at loss now that everything's been turned upside down in my world of black and white, Muggles-borns against Pure-Bloods and everything, I'm just so afraid of these new things in general, Mother."

"And with your Father out of the picture, telling you what to do and even what to think, you've been more independent and more free, which is what I wished for you ever since you were born. But I think too much freedom is making you very uncomfortable and you've never felt this way about a girl before. I mean, she not only saved you, but had also given you a second chance at life."

"You've been taking a liking to her, yes, Mother? Do you mind she's a Muggle-born?"

"Yes, I am very, very, fond of her, and thankful for what she did for us. And no, not at all, you can be with whoever you like. I never cared about blood purity as much as your Father did. And I would never make any decisions for you, my son; you are you, not me."

"Thank you, Mother."

"But first, we need to do something about Pansy… you know, she's been in love with you since the cradle?"

"Yes, Mother, and I have never felt anything remotely romantic towards her, only disgusted by her infatuation with me and her putting me on a pedestal, and worshipping me like a sex god. With Hermione, it's different. She thinks of me, as a human being, firstly, and then as a friend and not a lying Slytherin or anything of the like!"

"And I see you value her friendship with you a lot?"

"Yes I do. And to be honest, she's my first real friend ever since I was born. People have been wanting to be my "friends' for my money, my blood status and my societal status, a bit like Potter. And I am really really pleased she accepted my friendship and as you said, gave me a second chance at life. And even once, we've even agreed on something: both Muggle-borns and Pure-bloods have a place in this world of ours after I've told her about my 'Mock Dark Mark'."

"You trust her enough to tell her about that? Did you show it to her? How did she react to it, if you did?"

"No, I didn't show her, I just mentioned it to her. And she reacted as I expected: she said she was going to free me from it entirely, and after I told her it was impossible to do so; she didn't believe me."

"That's how I imagined her to be: courageous, noble, kind-hearted and headstrong. Although I suspect she's going to risk her life to care so much about others." Narcissa said to her son. At last, she was free to have her opinions and was liking it. She hated it when Lucius was around, always so authoritative towards her and her young son, almost like a dictator in the House. She was a free woman now, free from her husband's control over her, free to say whatever she liked and however she wanted. She loved that she could show her son how much she cared about him, something she could not do with Lucius around. His presence in the Mansion overwhelmed her, she didn't know if her son felt the same about his father. He was never allowed to call him "dad", so he called him "Father", always.

"Yes, I've been having the same thoughts about Potter: he's going to die because of that, too."

"You do care about Potter too now? What about Weasley?"

"I don't technically 'care' about them, I just feel different about them, not as much hostility towards them as before. But Weasley, he is obviously still holding it against me, and terribly jealous of my closeness to Hermione." Draco kept his duelling with Ronald Weasley a secret, not wishing to worry her more. After a while of silence, he asked his Mother:

"Can we just stop talking about them? You're giving me a headache."

"Hold on, I'm not done with you yet, what are you going to do with your engagement to the Parkinsons?"

"Although I'm scared of Pansy's over-reaction to it, I'm still going to call it off by myself, like a grown man. I'm going to send her an owl now, Mother."

"Now? But you're tired, Draco."

"That's fine, Mother, I can handle it." And so Draco wrote an owl to Pansy Parkinson that night, after having had supper with his Mother:

"To: Pansy Parkinson

Pansy, I think there are things we should talk about. I want to invite you to dinner, this 15th of July 1997 over about something really important.

From: Draco Malfoy."

Pansy, in her parents' home, was overjoyed to get Draco's letter and replied to it as soon as she read it:

"To: Draco Malfoy:

I am happy to get your letter. What did you want to talk about?

Plenty of kisses.

From: Pansy Parkinson, your fiancee."

Meanwhile, at Grimmauld's Place, Snape, Harry, Ron, Hermione, the rest of Order of the Phoenix, were talking about a way to defeat Lord Voldemort. Hermione, without revealing every details to them, said:

"Dumbledore, Snape and I have been planning things for our side. But I can't tell you everything, dear valued Members of the Order, because it will put our carefully laid-out plan into jeopardy. But don't worry, we know certain ways to destroy Him."

"Don't worry? How can you tell us to trust you, when you have no plans in mind?" Tonks objected.

"We do have plans in mind, and well thought-out ones, might I add. And if plan A fails, we'll fall back on plan B: destroying You-know-who."

"How?" asked, Mrs. Weasley, doubtful.

"I can't tell you, but Dumbledore and I have devised something out, something fairly elaborated to defeat Him with minimum casualties on both sides since the beginning of this year."

"How?"

"It's between him, I and Professor Snape."

"What Snape! How can you trust him after all he's done to us. And if you're not telling us anything, how can we help you?"

"I don't want any help from any of you, it's my job and mine alone. I don't want to risk everyone's lives for this and Snape's a good man, on the Light side, I can vouch for him."

"Hermione, we've been trained as Aurors for this! We ought to know what's going on!"

"She's right, she can't tell you everything, you'll just have to trust in her." Dumbledore said for her.

"And I have something else to tell everyone, Rodolphus Lestrange is planning an attack on his sister in-law, in the Malfoy Manor. Before anyone asks: 'how do you know?' Because I saw it in one of my dreams about Lord Voldemort." added Harry.

After the meeting and after everyone else went to sleep, Mrs. Weasley was saying to her husband Arthur:

"I don't like it how Hermione's being so secretive about things. What if it's something too dangerous for someone her age? And Snape, for Merlin's sake, how can she trust him after everything he's put us through, has she gone mad?"

"You tend to over worry about things. I'm sure everything will be fine. And as for Snape, something must have been going on between these two for her to change her mind so radically about him." Arthur had more faith in the girl.

"EVERYTHING WOULD BE FINE! EVERYTIME SOMEONE SAID THAT TO ME, SOMEONE GOT HURT!" Molly Weasley exploded.

"Don't go over the edge, Molly, everything is going to be as Dumbledore planned!"

"Although we don't know what they've planned and I'm really concerned about Hermione, Harry and Ron's and everyone's safety!"

"Quiet down and try and sleep, Molly, you'll wake everyone else up with your shouting!"

"Fine, but mark my words, something's going to go terribly wrong, I can just feel it."

"How? You're not a Seer. Quit making a big deal out of nothing! I'm certain Dumbledore would have thought about her safety before making plans with her."

"What if—?"

"Nothing would go wrong, I promise, Molly, now go to sleep, will you?" Molly finally stopped arguing.

Some next few days, the Weasleys, Tonks, took Harry and Hermione to Diagon Alley to hang out as they had nothing to do that day. To their surprise, they met the two Malfoys in Honeydukes. Harry and Hermione nodded as they acknowledged their presence in the candy shop.

"If it isn't Harry, the Golden boy and Molly, how are you today? Why don't you all join us while we're paying for our sweets in Honeydukes." Taken aback by Mrs. Malfoy's pleasant tone and invitation, Harry and Ron didn't know what to say. She was being quite civil, even somewhat formal towards them and even saluted Mrs. Weasley. They didn't think she was capable of being polite. But there she was, being respectful to people her family disregarded previously as nothing but "blood traitors" and "poorer than dirt".

"Mrs. Malfoy.", greeted Mrs. Weasley, as equally politely as she, having read in the Prophet about her change of side, now regarded her highly and thought of her as a brave woman who's gone through some great ordeals in her life and really admired her for having the courage to expose her husband to the world, although she didn't know why she just didn't divorce Lucius. Maybe by some Pure-Blood law, she wasn't able to. But right this second, she was extremely courteous to her and she returned the same to her.

"I don't know if I should congratulate you or not on your successfully putting your husband—" Tonks began. There was an awkward silence between the two, since Nymphadora was Narcissa's maternal niece, but the Blacks all disowned her Mother, Andromeda, for marrying Ted Tonks, her Muggle-born father.

"Yes you should, Nymphadora, dear. Although the family had disowned your mother Dromeda and burnt her from the family tree, I always still saw you as my niece, my sister's daughter. So I am your aunt, Nymphadora, I hope there are no hard feelings between us!"

"No hard feelings? Why didn't you do anything for my mother Andromeda Tonks, then? If you weren't on their side!" Only seeing red, Nymphadora Tonks asked her with fury in her voice: "And how dare you speak about my mother as if you were a good sister to her!"

"I admit, I haven't been. But I couldn't do anything, as I was under your grandparents' Curse, and my husband's total control. I would have liked to do something for her if it were possible for me, but I couldn't, I had my hands tied and you have every right to be angry at me, child, for everything."

"Why don't we all go somewhere else while Tonks and her aunt talk about things?" suggested Mrs. Weasley. Harry, Ron and Hermione, the Weasleys, all went outside of the shop. The Weasleys all shopped around, but Harry and Hermione, in another shop, close to Honeydukes, were trying to eavesdrop on them, as they too, were curious about Tonks' family matters.

"And Draco dear, would you go along with them for now?"

"I want to know what my cousin thinks of me, Mother, let me stay!"

"Fine, you can stay since she's your family too."

"And plus" Mrs. Malfoy went on with Tonks, "I was always a little jealous of your mother, Dromeda, because she could marry the man she loved and not I. I didn't have enough courage to defy family and Pure-blood traditions. Please understand my situation at that time, I was basically sold to Lucius, like your aunt Bella was to Rodolphus Lestrange. Only Dromeda escaped that fate by marrying the one she loved: Ted Tonks. I was, I'll admit, very envious of her, so when the family disowned her for marrying a Muggle-born, I was passive about it, since I had to deal with my own personal struggling married life."

"So you were a coward then." concluded Nymphadora Tonks.

"Yes, a coward and more. But now, I am free to do whatever I want, and to be who I really am. And Draco, say hello to your cousin. Don't just stand there, you're making it very anti-climatic."

"Hello, cousin Nymphadora, I am Draco Malfoy, your maternal cousin." As he said this, he extended his hand towards her for her to take as a peace-making gesture. However, Tonks didn't take it in hers. Rather, she spat on it. Draco, wanted to retaliate against her, but his Mother laid a hand on his shoulder and told him:

"Don't, she has a right to be angry at us. Let's go."

The night after her meaningful meeting with Narcissa Malfoy in the candy store, Nymphadora Tonks was fuming. "Who does she think she is? My aunt? After having done nothing for my mother when her parents disowned her for marrying a Muggle! And she thinks she has a right call me 'my niece' after all that? She disdained and abandoned my mother as much as the rest of the 'family'!"

Molly Weasley said more sensibly:

"Think about her difficulties in life too. Didn't you hear about it? She was under the Imperius Curse, and couldn't do anything out of her own free will! She herself was going through such ordeals and couldn't stick up for your mother!" Tonks, more composed, after inhaling deeply, replied to Molly:

"Yes Molly, but she had no right to tell me she is my aunt, when she's denied being it for so long!" Tonks wasn't ready to forgive her maternal aunt as quickly as Hermione forgave her arch-nemesis, Draco Malfoy.

"But it's not worth it, don't you think it's time to move on! It's been what? A good 15 years?"

"Yes. But don't ask me to forgive her, I can't." Mrs. Weasley patted her on her shoulder.

"I'm not asking you to forgive her, just to be more understanding about her, she is your blooded relative, after all. Blood is thicker than water, dear, always remember that. And besides, didn't she try to reconcile with you today?"

"Yes. But I can't be as forgiving as Hermione Granger, I couldn't believe it when the 4 of them didn't call each other names and such!"

"They've matured, and became more responsible, sensible. They were young children when they did that and something big happened: Draco's denounced his father's crimes with his mother, making him our ally too. And she, your aunt, although you don't like to call her that, also helped us put Lucius Malfoy and other Death-Eaters in Azkaban, making her on our side."

"So everyone here trusts my aunt?"

"Yes, we're all on the same side now: the remaining two Malfoys and us, are all in this together."

Two weeks passed since Tonk's meaningful meeting with her maternal aunt, Mrs. Malfoy. It was almost mid-July. Now that she had more time without her studies and homework, Hermione had daily Legilicimeny/Occumency practices with Severus in a room specifically built for them. Dumbledore Concealed it from other Members of the Order and Harry and Ron, so they could practice in peace.

But her two male friends found it exceptional that she and Snape got along now. They didn't know this was due to her being able to see pass his icy, almost hostile exterior to them and the Order. Ever since she pried open his head and seen his memories about Lily Evans Potter, she felt sorry for him and some kind of complicity and grudging respect developed between him and her as pupil and private instructor.

For Draco Malfoy, on the other hand, though, this meant facing Pansy Parkinson in his own home, his soon-to-be ex-fiancee. He was really dreading the dinner, hoping she would not throw a temper tantrum or be in tears over it. But knowing her since childhood, she probably would. Or so he thought. His Mother attempted to reassure him she wouldn't, as she was a teenager now, almost an adult. But Pansy couldn't be an "adult", she was still a spoilt child in his eyes. The Parkinsons, like the Malfoys, had over indulged their only daughter.

Pansy came to the Manor, wearing pinkish evening robes because her favourite colour was pink. "_She looks like a pig and even less attractive than usual_, _how could my father pick her as my fiancee! I just don't understand him sometimes!_" Draco remarked on her looks silently and vainly.

"Hello, Drake, Mrs. Malfoy, how have you been since your husband's imprisonment?" Pansy was direct and straightforward and always blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, not considering others' feelings.

"We've been well, thank you. Please sit down. Dinner will be ready at 7." Mrs. Malfoy said. As they were waiting for dinner, Pansy was idly chatting with Draco's Mother. When dinner came, served by Kreacher, Mrs. Malfoy's loyal house-elf, Pansy just said:

"I know you got something very serious to tell me, Drake, so no point in sugar-coating it or beating around the bushes. I'm not a child anymore, I can take whatever you're going to throw at me."

"Pansy, err how should I start… I want... I want to call off our engagement." Draco was blunt, since she said there wasn't any point in tiptoeing around it.

"Yes about that, you know I've been in love with you ever since we were born, I think, but you've rejected me plenty of times. I know you don't love me back, Drake. But it doesn't matter to me now, I know I deserve someone better than you. You've always used my feelings for you anyway, to get whatever you wanted from my parents and my family, but I won't let that go on any longer. So you can cancel off the engagement. I don't really care. And I won't let you abuse or humiliate me ever again, like your Father did with your Mother because of my unrequited feelings for you. You uncaring bastard. I was too blinded by my love for you, to think clearly before. But now, after some pondering over it, it's better for both of us if the engagement was off. Because you simply don't deserve me."

After her speech, for a moment, he was at loss for words. But he recollected himself rapidly and responded back to her:

"Well, that's good, because I feared you wouldn't accept it, and even would vehemently oppose to it."

"Thing is, Draco, I have my own feminine pride. I won't be clinging to a man who doesn't even want me, because that just doesn't do me any justice and that's one the most degrading thing for me as a woman, so I've moved on with my life and I've decided to respect myself a little more. You've taken advantage of my unhealthy obsession for you long enough. Before today I couldn't see that, now I can, thanks to some clear thinking and analyzing the situation. So I Pansy Parkinson, am willing to break off my engagement to you, Draco Malfoy."

After that, she gave back her engagement ring to him, she was gone, and Draco said to his Mother:

"Well, you were right, Pansy is a mature woman now. She did take it better than I imagined."

"I told you so, my dear Dragon."

Something he didn't know about Pansy was that Hermione Granger had been messing with her thoughts and helped her mature. Otherwise, she would have reacted exactly the way Draco supposed she would. He was wondering this about his fellow female housemate: "_Since when did she know anything about feminine pride and self-respect?_" That bit sounded very Hermione Grangerish to him.

A/N: READ AND SAY SOMETHING ABOUT MY FIC! BORING? DULL? TOO MUCH DESCRIPTION, NOT ENOUGH? SAY IT, I CAN TAKE IT, LOTS OF KISSES FROM ME: THE FANFIC'S AUTHOR! AND I VIVIDLY ENCOURAGE DISCUSSION ABOUT MY FICS, AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND OF OPINIONS!


	15. Chapter 15

Draco, after having dealt with cancelling his engagement to the Parkinsons, felt enormously relieved, and astoundingly happy: Pansy didn't over-react to it or anything the like. He felt good just to be able to decide for himself, a luxury he didn't have while his Father was still around. Under his Father's careful watch and Pure-blood upbringing, he couldn't think for himself either. As his Mother said, he wasn't such a good influence on him, but with him out of their lives, and in the Wizarding prison's highest security cell. His father, he thought, would not be able to escape anytime soon. "_What if the Dark Lord helped him out_?" He then thought more reasonably: _"The Dark Lord wouldn't bother saving someone who failed him, or who got himself into Azkaban."_ Though he wanted to discuss this with his Mother.

That same day Narcissa was out in the garden, just admiring the view. Their Garden was filled with healing herbs and plants. The healing ointment she sent her son in the school year was made from these. When Lucius was there, she had to ask him permission to go out in their backyard, as he didn't like it when she had too much freedom, since he thought he had less control over her in outside the family's House. But that was history for her. Now she was entirely relaxed, enjoying her nicely decorated glass of iced Pumpkin Juice to abate her temperature. She had a light fever today and she made herself some. However, she noted her son was often very apprehensive, and even filled with thoughts. She wondered: "_What could he be thinking about now that Lucius's gone?" _So she called him out:

"Draco, why don't you come and have a drink or two with me?"

"Yes sure, Mother." Draco was always so polite to her, even formally civil sometimes. He even used to boss her around sometimes because he was male, and males, as taught by Mr. Malfoy Sr., were the Masters of the House and females should be dominated by males. But that no longer was true in the Malfoys' household. Draco had begun to change and to respect his Mother more than he did when he was under Lucius's total control. And Narcissa Malfoy was happy about the change in her only son. She loved him so much, like Molly loved her children, and as Lily loved Harry. As the two were sitting down, and sipping some cold Pumpkin Juice, she began with:

"So my son, do you have anything on your mind?"

"Nothing much. I've been thinking about Hermione Granger a great deal. She doesn't know I like her and care for her as more than a friend, and I want her to return my feelings. But I don't know how to be around her, would I be too arrogant or too prideful? Or would I sound too much a snob? And I certainly don't want to spoil our friendship, and I don't want to go too fast with her either."

"I think, with the way she forgave you for your past hostility towards her, you might have a chance with her romantically. But first, as you said, you shouldn't go too fast. You've just begun being friends and your friendship is built on your past enmity. So be careful please when you talk about sensitive and touchy topics such like Muggles vs Wizards or anything the like. She might revert back to hating you, if you say one thing wrong about her Muggle heritage." She advised her teenage son.

"Yes I know, Mother, I'm not a hormonal teenager like Weasley. I won't be calling her a Mudblood or say anything about Muggle-borns not being "real" witches or something along these lines. I'm wondering though, about how I should approach her with my caring for her as more than a friend, to quote Weasley."

"I should advise you to change your attitude towards her completely, she, like me, must think of herself as an equal to you. She doesn't seem to care about gender roles either and seems to really hate someone dominating over someone else. So don't you be like Lucius, and see her as your equal, when you talk to her. She sure hates being belittled, from what you told me of her."

"Yes, absolutely. She punched me right in the face the 3rd year when I called her a 'Mudblood'. That taught me something about her character: she wouldn't hesitate to defend herself against a Wizard the Muggle way, which is, I'll admit more effective than magic. She gave me a nosebleed that year."

"So you admit the Muggles are not 'vicious beasts who drove the real Wizards into hiding', like your Father's always taught you about them?"

"Yes, I do. My perception of her Muggle heritage changed enormously, especially when I learnt she was helping me, through your letter, despite our enmity and rivalry in school. And since you trust her, I decided to do so as well."

"I am very happy to hear that, Draco. You can now have your own opinions, without Lucius's constant judgements about everything around you."

"And that's what's scaring me, because I've been guided by him, all my life. Without him, I feel quite empty. "

"Yes, you don't know how to be, how to react and everything without him, am I right, Draco? My advice to you would be to just be yourself, and react the way you would, like you just did in Honeydukes, when you met the Golden trio and co, your former enemies. And you don't need someone to guide you, my son. Learn to enjoy your freedom, the freedom I gave you."

"Yes Mother. And I was thinking about something else, what if Father broke out of Azkaban or the Dark Lord helped him or what about Uncle Rodolphus' assault on you?"

"I've thought about it all already: as the Mistress of the House, I put on some Charms and the like, to prevent Lucius and other Death-Eaters to enter the Manor."

"Do you think it's going to be enough?"

"I'm not a helpless child, like when I was 15 years ago, under their Curse, I am able to defend myself and I am a trained Witch. Don't you underestimate me!"

Draco was having second thoughts about this and expressed them out loud to his Mother:

"What if they all came for you together? You won't be able to protect yourself from them all? Macnair, Dolohov and all of them?"

"I know your dear Uncle. He would prefer working alone, he is a very solitary man and a very dark wizard. I've duelled him before and won against him. I know he hates working in team."

"But—?"

"That's enough, Draco. I want to talk about you and Miss Granger again."

"I thought we were done talking about her."

"No, I still have something to say about it. As your friendship with her is built on past differences and enmity, you'll need to be extremely careful about what you say to her."

"Yes, I know, Mother. I've been thinking about it too. You know I can't risk it, but I can be such a hot-head sometimes, I can say hurtful things to her without really meaning it in a heated moment and I don't know how I can restrain myself. With Pansy, it's easier, because she isn't as complicated as Granger."

"That's why you'll have to be on tiptoes with her."

Their heart-to-heart, Mother-to-son, talk went on long in the night.

While at Grimmauld's place, Ronald Weasley was reflecting back on their chance encounter in Honeydukes with Mrs. Malfoy and her son. This had fully opened his mind to whole new possibilities. Previously, he was rather very narrow-minded and even one-sided about the Malfoys. He thought they were "pure evil and darker than dark inside". This was all thanks to Arthur's Weasley's influences on him. He was thinking: "_maybe, just maybe, they weren't so evil_, _maybe they had a human side." _What triggered these thoughts of his? It was the way Mrs. Malfoy treated his Mother. Before, she always derided them, telling them how poor they were along with Mr. Malfoy Sr. and Malfoy Jr. But now, to him, it was like she was a new person totally and even in public, she treated his mother Molly Weasley with formal respect. And that was why Ron was beginning to warm up to the idea that maybe, just maybe they weren't so dark and murky after all and maybe they were on the same side as them, just like Hermione told him, plenty of times already. Although, he was still suspicious of Draco Malfoy, but he reminded himself that Malfoy Jr. too, refrained from insulting them at the candy store. He was pleasantly surprised to find out he didn't provoke them, that was the reason why he didn't either. "_I didn't know Ferret boy could be so polite, maybe it's due to Lucius Malfoy being out of their lives." _Before that, he always thought of them as being "coldly calculating" and "annoyingly scheming Slytherins", his own father's, Arthur Weasley's words. "_How misconceived I was about them!_" He exclaimed interiorly. And he thought, by the way Mrs. Malfoy acted around his mum and the rest of his family in Honeydukes, that they've really changed for the better.

After he looked back on things about the Malfoys, on Harry's birthday, they were having a huge party, organized especially for the Golden boy, although he told the Household he didn't want anything big for him, but still, Mrs. Weasley just wouldn't have it, she had a heated discussion with him about it in the morning.

"But Harry Dear, it's your birthday! Tell me what you want for it!"

"A regular dinner would be fine, as it's Bill and Fleur's wedding tomorrow."

So there they were, on the eve of Bill and Fleur's wedding, having a delicious evening meal, cooked all by Mrs. Weasley herself for Harry.

To Hermione's pleasant surprise, Ron didn't pass any nasty comments about the Malfoys, as the meal talk turned to their change of side:

"I just don't understand, they are like 2 wholly different people to me! How come before they weren't able to be polite to others in public?"

"Imagine being oppressed and controlled, for over 15 years, Ron; they didn't have the freedoms and rights we had. Now they can too, be whoever they are, and whoever they want, without Lucius Malfoy dictating their lives. And why did you all of a sudden change your perception of them?" Hermione asked, interested in knowing what caused his sudden change of mind about their old enemies, now turned allies.

"Because Mrs. Malfoy treated my family with respect, when we met them in Honeydukes, something they've never done before."

As the discussion was going on about their now ex-enemies, Harry had a vision, while he was wide awake, again about Rodolphus Lestrange, Lord Voldemort and other Death-Eaters:

"_I want to take her on NOW!" said Roldolphus, fairly dancing with rage. He rarely lost his composure, but he was mad beyond anything imaginable at his sister-in-law's open betrayal. _

"_No, don't be so impulsive, wait until the 15th of August, Rodolphus, it's the best time for that!" Macnair said. _

"_And why? The longer I wait, the more impatient I am, she's shamed us and betrayed us all!"_

"_I understand your frustrations, however, it's in your best interests to listen to our Lord's Commands." Lestrange said no more after that. _

Hermione, Ron, as the subject of their heated discussion changed to Quidditch, noticed Harry barely spoke, apparently in a daze.

"Harry, mate, what's the matter?"

"I've been having a vision of some sort, and it was still about Lestrange and Lord Voldemort, he will be striking on this 15th of August. We must notify the Malfoys to not go out alone." This made sense only to Harry, but both his friends trusted him, so they didn't ask him any questions about it.

"Whats your plan about it?"

"Notify them by owl and tell them to come over here, instead of going out of the Manor."

"But will they listen to us?" Mrs. Weasley asked, also worried about Mrs. Malfoy's life.

"Yes, I told Malfoy about this in school."

But Harry didn't know what to write, so he fidgeted at his desk for awhile, before sending an owl to Mrs. Malfoy about the imminent assault on her person. In the owl he invited her to Grimmauld's place for extra safety measure. But in her returning owl, she declined his kind offer, stating she also had some pride and will not go into hiding and will face her brother in-law on her own. He read her response to Hermione and Ron and the rest of the Order. All thought in their hearts: "_The damn Malfoy pride_".

On the 15th of August, almost 2 weeks after Bill and Fleur's wedding, the sinister event was about to happen. The Order, Harry, Ron and Hermione, all planned to assist the Malfoys. Only the Metamorphmagus, Tonks, Narcissa's niece, absolutely refused to go, still holding it against her estranged aunt.

"I'm not going, ever!" She said resolutely.

"Come on, Tonks, we're _all_ going!" said Lupin, trying to make her listen to him, but she won't budge.

"Never! I'm not going to risk my neck for her, when she's done nothing for me or my mother, Andromeda, no matter what you say!"

"Fine! We'll be going, no time to argue with her!" Mrs. Weasley said.

"On the count of 1, 2 and 3!" They all Apparated at the gate of Malfoy Manor, as they couldn't go in, repelled by Wards, Charms and the like.

Mrs. Malfoy, they saw, was already duelling her beyond mad brother-in-law. She was amazed to see her former enemies, ready to help her, once again, out of a bad corner. Their duelling stopped in mid-air as Lestrange was as also stunned as she was to see them there. Harry, without thinking too much, seized this chance to cast a Shielding Charm on her:

"PROTEGO!" Mrs. Malfoy and the people surrounding her were Shielded against minor spells, jinxes and hexes. But Lestrange, quickly recovering from his shocked state, shouted:

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" All thought to see Mrs. Malfoy dead on the ground. Yet she was still there, because Tonks Apparated there too despite her swearing she would never help Narcissa, and she laid there, lifeless on the grass, having sacrificed herself for her maternal aunt. Lupin roared:

"NOOOOOO!NOT MY FIANCEE!" And he was blindly charging towards Lestrange, wand dropped.

"PROTEGO!" This time, it was Hermione. Dumbledore Disapparated all of them, including Tonks' corpse, a numb Narcissa and Draco Malfoy out of the Manor and Apparated them inside Grimmauld's place.

TIME TO READ AND REVIEW!


	16. Chapter 16

The 2 weeks following Tonks' death, it was complete grief for Remus Lupin. She was buried right outside the forest of Grimmauld's place. Most in the place understood and even commiserated with his mood swings and even gave him their condolences, however he blamed everything on Narcissa Malfoy, the one his fiancee died for to save. Narcissa Malfoy was taking it rather well, because she once knew grief too when she lost her baby daughter, Auriga, due to Lucius' beating her up. Draco Malfoy was just there, not knowing what to say, or what to do and he felt largely out of place. Lupin merely tolerated their presence in the Blacks' House. But because Narcissa was a Black too, and she had every right to be there as well and she had been invited by Harry to stay with them, although she had previously declined the invitation.

Bizarrely, for Hermione, Ron spoke often for the Malfoys. She saw this as a huge progress in him, since before everything, he was always on about how "dark and evil" they were. But now he too, sympathized with the Malfoys, knowing everything they've gone through.

Lupin just couldn't understand it, why in Merlin they were all sympathizing with the Malfoys, who according to him, were the cause of all things. After all, the Malfoys caused Tonk's, his fiancee's death. But whenever he expressed his most negative feelings about them, Molly Weasley would tell him:

"No, you can't blame them for everything, it's Rodolphus Lestrange who killed your fiancee." Even Narcissa tried to comfort him, but it was no use, Lupin was still grieving, and wouldn't listen to anyone's reasoning. Dumbledore said:

"Let time heal him."

After awhile, nobody paid him any attention, and everyone got used to him and Narcissa having a row with each other from time to time. In his grief, he even never once called Snape "Snivellus", like he did with James Potter, Harry's father, when they were irresponsible young adults. The 4 teens in the House tried consoling him, but he was inconsolable and remained so for most of the time. And so the 4 decided to: "let time heal him."

It was soon time to go back to school for Hermione, Harry, Ron and Draco, and they still haven't found a way to help Remus Lupin cope with his fiancee's tragic death. Although the 3 boys didn't pull each other's hair out, they weren't particularly cordial to each other either, except when Hermione was present and tried to force them to talk like adults to each other. But with Ron standing up for Draco's Mother from time to time, he tentatively tried to make peace with them and ask for their friendship, like he did with Hermione, in their 6th year. One evening he began with:

"Potter, Weasley, I know we haven't been good friends—"

"That's the understatement of the year, Malfoy."

"Well, we've been enemies, but with everything that happened and me helping you put my Father in Azkaban, I think a new beginning is in order for us. Besides, we're on the same side now." He hoped Potter and Weasley wouldn't reject him again, especially not Potter! He couldn't stand it if the Golden boy spurned his friendship once again!

"Yes, and since Hermione trusts you and says you're her friend, we can try and be friends." said Harry, trustingly. Ron though, said:

"But you are still my competitor for Hermione's heart."

"No, Weasley, are you daft or something! I don't care for her that way! I just like her a lot as a friend!" He insisted a bit too forcefully. And Ron didn't like to be called daft, so he replied:

"Look, I've been changing my opinion of your Mother and you, and even I am ready to overlook our past differences and start fresh with you, however, I still see you as my rival in love."

"I could care less about what you think of me, Weasley, but I'm asking for your friendship, for Hermione's sake, nothing else." Malfoy said pompously.

"Are you really asking for our friendship or trying to be an ass…?"

"Since, we're all going to be stuck together, here and at Hogwarts, we might as well try to be friends, and I've really grown tired of our petty rivalry in school. And as you said, I am already friends with Hermione, and I don't want anything more with her for now." But a voice inside of him objected and said: "_Yes you do, you've already admitted it to yourself and your Mother_."

"So friends, Malfoy?" Potter asked quite numbly.

"Yes friends, because you all tried to save my Mother, and as you already know probably, she's the only person who cared for me when I was a young child, so it means a lot for me. Thank you for trying to save her." He knew he blundered when he said he didn't care about their opinions of him, however, he tried again to be nice to them, hoping they would accept him as their friend. But, he didn't know how to, as no one was there to instruct him about how to make friends, because everyone wanted to be his friends in Slytherin, so it was really hard for him and them.

"All right, since you are also ready to look pass our past rivalry in school, I accept to be your friend, but say one word wrong about Hermione's Muggle-born status and you're hexed." Ron was trying to sound threatening, but was failing miserably.

"I'm not stupid like you, Weasley. I won't make the same mistakes again like I did with her in the past. Let's put our past behind us, and let's be friends?"

"Or let's try to be, let's try to not kill each other first, and then we'll see." added Potter.

"Well, we're already doing that, so that's a good thing." said Malfoy.

"Right, so from now on, for Hermione's and defeating You-know-who's sake, we will try and be friends."

"Yes. I find myself agreeing with you, Weasley, that must be something I ate this morning." Malfoy teased Ron.

"_Git_". Thought Ron after their agreement to be friends. But the 3 guys were in a rocky and unstable friendship. From time to time, Ron would still call Malfoy a "git", a "slimy snake" or a "pompous-ass Slytherin" or his favourite: "Ferret boy." And Malfoy would return the favour by calling him "stupid", "Weasel" or anything sounding like these things. However, with time, they were doing it more for the sake of it, as a habit, and not really in spite. And that was the way they expressed their newly found affection for each other.

To Hermione, the boys' behaviour towards each other was incomprehensible. Draco told her they've agreed to be friends, however they would still fight with each other, albeit in a more friendly manner. And he was beyond charming to her, to make Ron even more jealous than he already was. She now concluded she just didn't understand boys. When girls agreed to be friends, they would not call each other names and such, girls were more mature. She observed. But she for once, wasn't right about that and got thoroughly annoyed about that. "_Girls being more mature than guys is a myth and again a misconception through a girl's eyes. Because you're a girl, you'd like to think of Girls as superior to Guys, like Malfoy when he did that with Muggle-borns, because he was a Pure-blood. Don't make the same mistake as him in judging the boys." _Finally, she conceded that boys could also be as responsible as girls, and as reckless as girls.

On september 1st 1997, they were all at King's Cross, with their pet animals, their trunks and in wizard robes, accompanied by Lupin and Narcissa. Mrs. Malfoy wanted to have a talk with Hermione about her son, but didn't get the chance to, as she was too busy dealing with Lupin's outbursts towards her. However, she vowed to send her an owl in school. Dumbledore and Snape, as teacher and Headmaster, got to Hogwarts before them for school preparations and such other matters. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco all skipped the Sorting Ceremony and Dumbledore's welcome speech upon their arrival at Hogwarts, since it was their 6th time watching these as bystanders. Instead, they all went around for a stroll in the Schools' grounds.

For the 4 of them, their school routine was as follows: lessons, homework, sometimes detentions if they misbehaved during class. But otherwise, it was none too bumpy for either of them. Although they were still as competitive as ever, there was no malice in the rivalry now between Hermione, Ron, Harry and Draco. For other students at Hogwarts, this was some drastic change as they didn't know about what they've gone through together during the Summer. None of them could guess the reason behind these sudden changes. Some welcomed it, saying they had all grown up, some said Harry, Ron and Hermione and Draco had gone bonkers. But the 4 didn't have enough leisurely time to mind others' rumours about them. Amongst the teachers, Mcgonagall and Sprout asked Dumbledore about what happened, but he wouldn't tell them. The teachers even noticed the malice between them lessened. Some accepted the idea that they were no longer kids, some speculated wilder and more far-fetched reasons for this. But Dumbledore's lips were sealed, not telling his staff or any student anything when anyone asked him why.

"Let them guess. Let them talk." said Harry to Ron and Hermione one special day when the gossip about them got so bad that the students wouldn't let them alone.

"Did you notice this about Malfoy? He no longer calls Hermione names, that must mean something." Lavender was gossiping with Pavarti.

"Yeah, but he stopped doing that in their 6th year, Lavender."

"He's grown into such a mature and handsome Prince", agreed Pavarti.

"He's almost as good-looking as Harry." said Ginny, who just joined the girls' conversation.

Hermione, who couldn't stand these Drama and Gossip Queens, especially when they talked about how Draco was _so_ gentlemanly and _so_ well-mannered towards her, went out of the Common Room. She then went to the library, to get some peace and to read on for her Arithmancy essay, only to bump into Draco, the subject of the Gryffindors' girls gossip.

"Oh, hello, how have you been these days?"

"As well as I could be, thank you for asking. Reading about something?"

"Yes for my Arithmancy's paper."

"And have you been made Gryffindor's Head Girl too?" As Draco didn't want to let her go yet, he was attempting to strike up an intelligent conversation with her. But this was difficult for him, because he had no guide nor instructions about girls! The Slytherin girls all fawned over him and fancied him, so he never had any difficulty talking to a girl before! He was trying to look nonchalant, but he wasn't able to, and this was due to him fancying her more than a bit.

"Yes and you're Slytherin's Head Boy, I guess?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'll be going."

"Don't go, please!" He tried desperately to stop her, but she said:

"No, I have to finish up my paper for Arithmancy, see you in class!" And she was gone, and he was disappointed at himself for being so pathetic.

"Better luck with her next time." said Madam Pince, amused by his attempt at stopping her.

"Mind your own business." Draco snapped back at the Librarian.

Hermione was thinking about the talk she just had with him, and wasn't able to do any research for her paper. "Well, I can't do it later, as it's for tomorrow." That was how she motivated herself when she was lazy about schoolwork. And yes, there were times, in her student life, when she too was fed up about homework and just wanted to procrastinate. If Harry, Ron or Draco heard her innermost thoughts about homework, they would say, in Muggle terms, she had a split personality too: a hard-working, and studious Hermione, and a rebel Hermione, who wanted to do nothing and to "enjoy the moment", as Ron put it.

And one September evening, after she had turned her Arithmancy paper in, she was in Snape's study, practicing the 2 mental arts with him. Previously, she was quite annoyed at Professor's Snape teaching methods because no matter how much progress she made, he never overtly complimented her for it. But with time, she had come to appreciate his way of teaching. That was his way of challenging her, always pushing her further into the 2 arts. He often now practiced with her using both Legilimency and Occlumency, adding to her difficulty with mastering Occlumency. But she was no longer an inexperienced beginner after 6 months of hard studying and training under him. And although he never said it, she saw it in his mind that he was very proud of her achievements. So on this evening's lessons, her tutor deemed her ready to see inside the Dark Lord's mind.

"I've taught you everything I could about these 2 arts. It's up to you now if you succeed or fail Dumbledore's Mission for you."

"I understand Professor. Should I try to be inside His mind now?"

"Yes, but firstly, I'll need to give you some other advice. When you are in His mind, try to be as impartial as possible. Try not to judge the things you'll see when you're going to be inside of His head, because you won't be able to see how He sees everything, and to uncover His innermost thoughts and His secrets and weaknesses, privy to Him only. You'll need to keep your mind blank, Occlumency might help you with that. Be warned, He is also a very skilled Occlumens, so do use Legilimency subtly."

"Yes, Professor. How skilled is He in Occlumency, I read it in your handbook that some Occlumens can instantly feel it when a Legilimens is inside their mind. Is He that skilled?"

"If you can manage to use Legilimency with subtlety, He will think it's His own thoughts, and therefore not know it's you who is manipulating how He thinks, feels, sees and senses. Again, use Occlumency to shield your thoughts from Him at the same time, don't forget about that part."

"Perfect, so if I can make Him think it's His own thoughts rather than mine, He'd not know it's me who's influencing His perceptions about things?"

"Yes, correct. Dumbledore said you should try without going in His past first and learn about how He feels about Muggles and Muggle-borns and even maybe learn something new about Him, our common enemy."

"Yes Sir, I will. And I'll do my best."

With these suggestions from her tutor, she plunged herself into the Dark Lord's mind, using Legilimency to try and see inside of Him. Her first task was to learn about how He really felt about the Muggles, Muggle-borns and to discover why He despised them so much.

Hermione, having successfully cast a non-verbal and a wandless "_Legilimens"_, was now inside 'Lord Voldemort's' head. She was trying to see everything from His point of view, not hers, like Snape counselled her:

"_The Muggles made us Wizards and Witches go into hiding, persecuted us and ridiculed us. One day they would pay for what they've done to us."_ _Lord Voldemort was saying to Himself. He paused, and continued on: _

"_One day, I would rid the World from all Muggles and Muggle-borns, who are indecent filths. Some envy our magical abilities and some despise us for it, and some fear us, but some want us all dead. But before these extremist Muggles kill us all, I need to save us, the real Witches and Wizards. So for our safety's sake, Muggle-borns and Muggles must be all eliminated from the surface of the Earth." He kept on playing with Nagini, speaking to His pet snake in Parseltongue. And then He said finally, after awhile: _

"_I need to keep the Pure-bloods safe from the Muggles' torturing, tormenting and harassment."_

Hermione was now able to understand why 'Lord Voldemort' hated the Muggles and Muggle-borns so much. She assumed He probably was tormented, tortured and harassed by Muggles, much like Harry. Yet unlike Him, Harry didn't hate the Muggles or Muggle-borns, despite what his Muggle relatives have done to him.

"So tell me, what have you learnt after being for the first time in His thoughts?"

"He hates the Muggles and Muggle-borns so much that he wants them all purged from our world. As to why, I suppose it's because some Muggles have done some terrible things to Him, in His childhood, as Harry told me about Him."

"And how do plan on convincing Him otherwise?"

"By showing Him the Muggles' and Muggle-borns' kinder and more human side and also by telling Him that pushing His ideology to it's limits, it's going to be His downfall. If that fails, I will try and convince Him not to make the Horcruxes of His, as He will not be able to get a real Body."

"Very sound arguments. I think, that's all for today. Next time, you will try and do as you said. Don't disappoint me." This was Snape's way of motivating her and she somewhat liked it now, rather than finding it irritating. She knew he didn't like to openly praise anyone, because he didn't like to pamper any student's vanity. He thought School Masters should be respected by students. And that was why no pupil's ever got any praise from him in any class even if they were truly exceptional, except for Draco Malfoy, his Godson. Thinking back on Draco's close relationship with him, she thought it was natural that he spoilt him a bit, even publicly.

She was now extremely fatigued, after the practice session with Professor Snape. In the corridor to the Gryffindor Tower, she ran into Draco Malfoy, again. "_What's he doing there_? _Shouldn't he be sleeping or in the Slytherin Tower or something like that?_"

"What's wrong with you, Hermione? Why are you so tired?" asked a very worried Draco.

Hermione, not wanting to explain herself to him, made up an excuse:

"I was doing some extra reading in the Library, now I'm on my way to bed. I can't chat with you now."

"Don't you lie to me! Tell me what's going on?" Draco truly cared about her health, he wasn't trying to irritate her or anything.

"No, I won't! And what are you doing here, in Gryffindor's Tower?"

"I was patrolling the corridors to see if any student was out of bed!"

"You're sounding more and more like Filch!"

"No, I'm just taking my duties as a Head Boy seriously."

"Fine, whatever. Look, I'm not in the mood to argue with you right now, I'm sleepy as hell! See you in class!"

Draco, however, wasn't going to let her get away with lying to him, so he promised himself he would find out why she was this way, and why she was more weary than other, normal students. "_Potter and Weasley must have noticed something's different about her too_. _I'll talk to them about it, just to see if they know anything. I'm sure she has some secrets of her own. And I'm going to unravel them."_

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	17. Chapter 17

Draco tried many times to follow her and to discover her reasons for being so extremely tired on a daily basis. He never suspected his Godfather was part of the reason why. So there he was, following Hermione, trying to know what she was doing. He had no luck talking to Potter and Weasley, as they didn't know either why she was this way, even more exhausted than usual. He could tell, though, her 2 best friends were worried sick about her. He didn't know if she saw him as one of her best friends, or just a friend, but she certainly didn't show any romantic interests in him, like he initially wanted her to.

So Draco was just exploring the Castle and patrolling it, since he couldn't sleep one night. He hoped Lady Luck would smile upon him and he'd stumble on Hermione, but he didn't drink any Luck Potion or Felix Felicis beforehand. But he was a highly-motivated and persistent lad. So he kept on patrolling until he heard some gossip about Hermione and Snape in some Tower. He normally found gossip to be completely pointless, like she did, but this time, it helped him a great deal. He leant closer to the gossipers to hear their talk about Snape and Hermione.

"Have you ever noticed Professor Snape and Hermione are not as hostile towards each others as before?" Luna Lovegood was saying to her Ravenclaw friend.

"Yes, a long time ago. There must be something fishy going on between those two!"

"It might be because they are secretly dating and can't let their secret out in the open because it's forbidden between a teacher and a student!"

"It's the silliest thing I've heard in a while, Luna. It must be something else."

"No, it must be something about their private love lives." said Luna. To Isobel, Luna made no sense at all.

"How can a teacher fall for a student?" She asked her.

"I don't know, but Hermione doesn't mind his ignoring her in class as much anymore. That must be because she's so in love with him!" Lovegood answered.

"You must have read some really bad romance novels, and I didn't know you were a hopeless romantic, like that Brown girl." Isobel said to her friend.

"You think I'm ridiculous about it? Yet I'm sure romance is in the air for both of them!" Luna's facial expression was dreamy, as if she wasn't in this reality, this moment anymore, but rather, in another universe completely. Luna was known for her abnormal behaviour in school. Often she would just contemplate the stars, the Moon, the universe and think about them. And she often came up with insane theories such like this. Even Isobel, who was used to her queerness and over-sensitivity to magical creatures, was still unsure about her friend's sanity.

Draco was still listening to these two talking, and he internally agreed with Isobel about Luna: that was the dumbest thing ever. His Godfather and Hermione together? He wanted to vomit at these thoughts, but restrained himself, since the 2 Ravenclaw females would notice him there if he did. He cursed himself for forgetting to put on some Invisibility Charms or the like before following these two. But it wasn't planned beforehand, so he couldn't prepare himself properly for this.

As he was listening in further, the 2 girls continued talking about his Uncle Sev and Hermione's now respectful relationship. He found absolutely nothing interesting and was about to doze off, until he overheard some great news between his Godfather and Hermione, the 2 most important people in his life, after his mother:

"You know, I think she's always going up to Professor Snape's office around 7."

"How do you know?" asked a even more amazed Isobel.

"Because I've followed her once, when she wasn't looking, and I saw her going all the way up to Professor's Snape office. I hoped to get some juicy details, like how the DADA teacher and her are dating and etc for the Quibbler's next scoop."

"You just imagined there was a relationship between these two, when there really isn't. Take that off your mind, Luna or you're going to go insane!"

"But Isobel, there must be something going on between them! I saw her with my own eyes, walking towards Professor Snape's private study."

"And how did you know for certain it was Snape's study?"

"She was running hurriedly towards the Slytherin dungeons! I'm sure there is something about these 2, like they've been secretly dating or something!"

"What about Malfoy? People are rumouring about them dating as well. And plus, he's utterly and completely changed his conduct towards her. He's more polite, more charming as well to her." Isobel changed the subject to Malfoy, because she really thought her friend had the craziest idea yet.

"Don't change the subject of this discussion, this is about the Head of Slytherin House and a Gryffindor student having an affair! If I can manage to find out the details about their couple's relationship, the Quibbler can make a fortune and even cost Snape's position as a teacher at Hogwarts! He isn't very well liked anyway as a School Master."

"Luna, I'm telling you, you're going mad, in the sense of insane! These thoughts are poisoning your mind, and that's why you didn't have all 'Os', on everyone of your papers. You've been wasting time imagining a relationship between them where there really isn't one. I don't know where you get your ideas, from the Quibbler, maybe?"

"No, from what I've seen and I can assure you there is something between Professor Snape and Hermione."

"Well, I'm positively certain there isn't. You're completely off your rocker if you think they're dating."

"No, I know they've been. Why else would she go into his private study every evening then?" Isobel sighed and finally said:

"I give up. I can't think of any other reason, but I'm sure there's no romantic relationship between Professor Snape and her. You've been reading too much stupid and crappy romance literature."

"No, I've not! And I know it's true: Professor Snape and Granger ARE dating! Now I want to know when they started their relationship!"

"Now, you stop that, I won't listen to a word you say if you keep on talking about their non-existent 'relationship'."

"All right, you wanted to talk about Malfoy and Granger, yes?"

"Yeah, that's a way more interesting topic than yours. Let's talk about how they've hugged each other at Lucius Malfoy's hearing and trial! I think Hermione and Draco were secretly in love with each other way before the trial, but just didn't have the courage to come out in the open, afraid people like us might be gossiping about them!"

"Now, it's my turn to think your mind's slipping, Isobel. I think that was just a platonic gesture of sympathy."

"But how did she know about Mr. Malfoy's hearing?"

"I've no idea."

Draco knew people often rumoured about Hermione and him dating. But he didn't like to hear people speaking about it so shamelessly because he wasn't even sure he had chance with her. But right now, he was just ecstatic about finding out part of the reason why she was so physically spent. The first 2 weeks of September, he just thought she had lots of homework to do. But she continued showing signs of great exhaustion on her face almost on a daily basis. Even her body language told him she was over-using her physical body. If he knew anything about Muggle medical science, he would explain it by extreme stress and even depression. Even though he didn't know anything about Muggle science, he was still asking himself something similar to that:

"Is she depressed about something? Or just overly stressed? I'll need to ask my Godfather about it." He was so preoccupied about her that he forgot to defend her whenever some Slytherins, mostly girls, were referring to her as the "Mudblood slut". All the Slytherin females thought she had stolen their Draco from them. Problem was that, Draco didn't like any of them in the first place, but like Parkinson, before Hermione had helped her grow up, they saw her as their enemy in love matters. And this proved that Draco wasn't a multi-tasking guy, but rather, he liked to start new things up after he's done everything he needed to take care of. So right now, the most important thing for him to do was to uncover why the object of his affection was going to the Slytherin dungeons every night at 7 p.m sharp.

He thought every Gryffindor was scared of the Slytherin house, yet he learnt Hermione Granger, Gryffindor's Golden girl often went there and even socialized with his stern Uncle Severus. Privately, he called him that, but during class, he always called him: "Professor Snape". And most didn't know why Snape favoured him so much, save for Hermione, who knew about this after having been in the Slytherin Head's mind.

So there he was, scheming up something to discover the reasons behind her tiredness. And he berated himself for not noticing this sooner about her, but this wasn't really his fault, since he like Hermione, studied late at night, but in the Library and not in the Slytherin Common Room, until it's closure.

"I'll ask my Godfather about it!" He promised himself. "_But when? I don't have much time between my studies, my Head Boy responsibilities and my Quidditch practices. I'll just ask him in when I'll have a free period._"

As he was plotting these things in his head, Hermione Granger was reflecting on how to influence 'Lord Voldemort' to be "Tom Marvolo Riddle" again. She knew "Lord Voldemort" was an anagram of his real, birth name: "Tom Marvolo Riddle". But what she didn't know was that His given name by His mother, Merope Gaunt, was cursed by Himself, and that was why even His Death-Eaters called Him simply: "The Dark Lord". Only Harry and the Headmaster of Hogwarts used his real name. She will uncover all, however when she will dig deeper in the Dark Lord's complex mind. She was having an internal battle in her head with herself:

"S_o how am I going to change his misconceptions and extremely negative opinions about the Muggles and Muggle-borns? From where do I start? I know he's the way he is with Muggle-borns and Muggles, because terrible things happened to him in the past. So I could use that and Dumbledore advised me to use 'Tom Marvolo Riddle's thoughts to manipulate His thoughts.' How? Again, simple: I'll just say it's better for both worlds to coexist together in peace. And when he will argue about it, I'll show him what Pure-bloods have done to Muggle-borns and Muggles with their strange abilities. Now I understand this problem exists because of both sides' wrong perceptions about each other. For Pure-bloods, Muggles really pose a real and true threat to them, because they've persecuted them during the Dark Ages and especially during the Spanish Inquisition, very dark times for Witches and Wizards. But I'll show him: Muggle-borns have also been rejected and ill-treated by their Muggle families and that was an injustice too. And He is also way too one-dimensional towards Muggles and Muggle-borns, a bit like Ron with the Malfoys before this Summer. That should be easy, right?_"

"_But what if he refused to listen to you? What other arguments are you going to have against his prejudices against Muggle-Borns and Muggles?" _

"_I'm going to say it's not worth it, and besides, there are always going to be Muggle-borns or Muggles everywhere in the World. Muggles outnumber the Wizards. That must mean something."_

"_That is a very lame one. He won't go with it. Think of something else, something deeper than that. You can do it." _She was encouraging herself mentally. Only she didn't know what more to say to that counter-argument.

"_What if everything went wrong? What if he won't listen to you at all? And moreover, how are you going to convince Him to be 'Tom Riddle' again, as Ron said?" _

"_I don't know." _And for once, the all-knowing Hermione didn't have pre-made answers to everything. She really was over-using her brain to find a perfect answer to this, yet she had no idea about how to "seduce" the Evil and Supreme Dark Lord of the Wizarding World to the Light Side. "_You know too little about Him, maybe after finding out some more about Him, you'll know more ways to influence Him to the Good side. And maybe after a deep discussion with Dumbledore or Snape, you will have the answers you want. Or even Draco might have the answers to it?" _

"_But if I ask Draco about it, I will have to tell him everything from the beginning, and I'm not sure the Headmaster will let me do it." _

With these uncertainties in her head, playing over and over again, she fell asleep, but she had a very light sleep. And the next morning, she didn't feel well rested at all because she was thinking about ways to seduce the Dark Lord to the Light side.

"Not an easy task." She said to herself in the Common Room. But Ron and Harry heard her.

"What's not an easy task?"

"The influencing 'Tom Riddle' to the good side."

"Well, if you just told us everything, we might be able to help you."

"Yeah, and Dumbledore said I can tell you everything. So yeah, do you remember when I said Dumbledore believes the Dark Lord has 2 separate people inside of Him?"

"Yeah?" Harry encouraged her to go on.

"Well, my task is to convince Him to be 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' again, and I've been thinking about how exactly am I going to do this, once inside His head."

"You lack some information to think of a perfect way?" Ron guessed.

"Yes, you're right Ron. Harry, do you know anything more about Riddle that could help me?"

"What are the things you came up with?"

"Plan 1: To tell Riddle that Muggles and Muggle-borns are also human and deserve to live."

"I'm sorry, but He's too indoctrinated into that 'Pure-blood are superior' philosophy, although He is a Half-Blood only. What's your plan 2?" asked Harry.

"If that didn't work on Him, my second plan is to make Him see how dangerous for Him the Horcruxes are."

"He's a very very Dark Wizard, and He is after immortality, Hermione, He won't abandon the idea so soon. Besides, if you tell Him that, He'll know immediately it's not His own thoughts about things. Because it's too huge of a change."

"Of course, I'm not going to tell Him to drop the idea of making those right off the bat, but I'm just going to offer Him some counter-arguments. He often tends to speak to Himself when He is thinking about things."

"You've been inside His mind?"

"Yes, just this once. And believe me, it was horribly chaotic. His thoughts are mainly about how the Muggles and Muggle-borns were vicious towards the Wizards and Witches in the past and made them suffer for centuries and centuries."

"I'd imagine it's not very pleasant to be inside of Him, hearing His thoughts."

"Yes, but he knows some Muggles want to have magical abilities too. So I'll be mainly playing on that."

"What are you going to say to Him?"

"Well, that He is envied by Muggles. And that should satisfy Him, as a real Wizard."

"He won't be." Harry said to her discouragingly.

"How encouraging! Then do you have any idea, Harry on how to change His mind about killing all Muggles and Muggle-borns?" Hermione said with obvious sarcasm in her tone.

"Well, He wants to be invincible, and to live forever, these are 2 of His goals. He is very afraid of death, so you could show Him there are things far worse than death, for example, being tortured by Muggles and the like."

"What would be the use of telling Him that?"

"To make Him give up on the idea. Nothing can make Him immortal, not even the Death Hallows or the Horcruxes."

"How do you know?"

"I don't know anything about them. I just made this up, Hermione."

"What? But that's not going to work on Him!"

"Yes it is! Don't you know anything about bluffing? Not everything has to be just as planned!" Harry told her, Ron was silent, only listening to them talking, because he really didn't know how to help Hermione, his secret crush.

"Bluffing? I don't like it. I've never in my life bluffed! I don't know if I'll do it convincingly enough for Riddle to buy it!"

"So 'Tom Riddle' is inside His mind too, right?" Ron finally spoke up.

"Yes, that's what I said since the beginning, don't make me repeat myself, I hate that."

"Well, Mione, you can use 'Tom Riddle'."

"Brilliant, Ron." Harry said this time.

"Brilliant? I think it's the stupidest thing from him yet—"

"No, listen to me till the end. He already has 'Tom Riddle' debating with Him inside His mind, yes? Well, you can pretend to be 'Tom Riddle', talking to 'Lord Voldemort', that way it won't arouse any suspicion in Him when you'll be doing the seducing Him to the Light side thing."

"Yes, that's such clever thinking, Ron! How come I've never thought about this before?"

"Because you were too absorbed in how to make Him be 'Tom Riddle' again. That was my mystake, I made you go in the wrong direction."

"No, Ron, that's not, and thank you, thank you, so much! You've solved an unsolvable puzzle for me! I owe you one, Ron!" Hermione, eyes beaming in excitement, hugged him. Ron thanked his brains for being smart for once.

With that settled in her mind, she went to sleep in peace with herself. But little did she know that Draco Malfoy was now following her every night, at 7, to the Slytherin dungeons, to see if she was indeed going to Snape's study like Lovegood said she was. And he interiorly scoffed at Lovegood's suggestion that they might be dating. He rather agreed with Isobel, Lovegood's Ravenclaw friend, that this was completely out of the question. When he came across her in the Great Hall or anywhere else, he never said a word to her about him knowing about her nightly activities with his Godfather. And he Quietened his footsteps, so she wouldn't hear him whenever he followed her to the dungeons.

He thought he would have to confront her about this, though first, he'll have to speak with Severus, his Godfather about that. And Snape still treated his open wounds twice per week, and now he was feeling much better about this, though Hermione didn't ask about his scars' situation again. And he preferred not to be treated in St-Mungo's, as he detested Hospitals. Uncle Sev, he was okay with him as he had a very close relationship with him, but he didn't know any of the Medi-Witches or Wizards in St-Mungo's, so that was unsettling for him. So he much preferred Severus to any Healer. This time though, Snape was first to speak to him, after giving him some healing potion:

"So Draco, apart from your lessons, do you have anything on your mind to tell me about?"

"Yes, Uncle Sev, I have something I'd like to ask you. What are you doing with Hermione every night at 7? Why this hour and why is she with you every evening?"

"Draco, that's between her and I! You can't know, and besides, how did you find out about it?"

"Once, I overheard some Ravenclaws gossiping about you two and spreading rumours about you two secretly dating, so that's been on my mind ever since."

"Well, the thing is, I promised Dumbledore, by a magical agreement, that I won't tell a soul about it. So I'm in no position to tell you anything. I made a magical pact with him. If I did tell someone, however, terrible things would happen to me."

"She's my friend and I want to know why she's so exhausted every night and day! It's not normal even with homework and her over-studying!" Draco couldn't contain himself any longer, and not knowing how to express his worries, he did it so very clumsily and angrily.

"You'll have to find out by yourself then, because I can't tell you nothing, not a thing. Now, if you don't have anything else to say to me, you may take your leave." Snape showed him the door. Originally, after taking care of his back injuries, Snape wanted to ask about his relationship and feelings for Granger, however since his Godson so directly asked him about their most secret thing, he was rather dry with him that night. And he knew he had to take some precautions now that Draco knew about him and Hermione's doings in his office. "_How about changing location and some invisibility spells_?"

Draco, after his short meeting with his Uncle Sev, was climbing the staircase to the Slytherin dormitory, fuming and pacing. He didn't get the answers he wanted, but he saw his Godfather was very very uncommunicative about what was going on between him and Hermione. But he knew he couldn't be dating her because firstly, she wasn't his type of woman to date, and second, their age gap was too huge for him to be taking a liking to her. And thirdly, he thought this was totally absurd. "_My Godfather and Hermione dating? Absolutely ridiculous!"_

His male housemates however, noted his frowns and constant mood swings: sometimes from very happy to completely distressed. Zabini asked him:

"What's with you, mate, you've not been yourself lately, thinking about someone or something?"

"Yeah, about Hermione and my Godfather."

"What about them? Are they dating or something?"

"No! How totally laughable! No it's not that, I've heard from some Ravenclaw girls, that she and my Godfather were meeting every night at 7, so I think something more's going on between them two. I want to know what."

"That's simple, follow her to the dungeons."

"Did that already, didn't work."

"How about asking your Godfather about it?" suggested Nott.

"I did that too, but he said he can't tell me because of a magical agreement between Dumbledore and him. I suspect it's something big."

"Yeah. Have you tried talking to her about it?"

"No, I haven't and that's what I will try. But I don't have many chances with her, as she's always with Potter and Weasley, her two lap dogs." Draco, although publicly, wasn't arrogant to them anymore, because he wanted to prove himself to Hermione, however, privately, with his Slytherin friends, he still called them her "lackeys, sidekicks or lap dogs." In his very Slytherin and Malfoy heart, he still held them in contempt.

"Well, you could ask her out on a date, it's going to be Halloween soon, Draco."

"That's a good idea, Zabini, but when will I have the time to ask her out?"

"Well, she goes to the library often, so you might want to go there."

"Yeah, I've tried, but she's always researching, or reading on something."

"Well, you could ask her when you're patrolling the Castle with her together!"

"My problem is, I can't seem to think of anything intelligent to say, when she's around me! It's like my brains are dead or something when I'm around her!" Draco said dramatically.

"Try and talk about the weather, and ask her how she is, how her friends are, that sort of things." advised Nott, who was wanting to start pursuing Parkinson romantically as well.

"What about Pansy?" said Goyle.

"What about her? I broke off my engagement to her this Summer. So I'm a free and single man again."

"And she was fine with that?"

"Yes. She took it rather better than I imagined, speeching about her need to respect herself more and how I took advantage of her blind feelings for me. It was all her fault: she was too much of an imbecile to see I didn't like her, even though I did publicly reject her many times. Although I took her to the Yule Ball, on my Father's orders. Anyway, my problem is now how to ask Hermione out without sounding like a complete blathering idiot and twat."

"Well, just don't be nervous, or you can take the Felix Felicis, to boost your self-confidence up."

"Excellent suggestion, Nott! I will take the Luck Potion, because I get so nervous when she's around me that it's like I've been hexed into blabbering or something…"

With the Felix Felicis, he was sure to succeed. So he brewed the Luck Potion, drank it a few days before Halloween, and was asking Hermione out one day after class:

"Hermione, would you like to go on a date with me on Halloween?" Draco didn't know how to be subtle with a girl he liked, and even admired. "_Say yes, please!_" He wished with his whole heart.

"Yeah sure, but as friends only!" That was Hermione's condition.

"Yes friends only!" Although a little upset by that, he still accepted it, because he respected her wants and her needs and he thought: "_It's better than her saying no to me altogether_".

A/N: WANT TO READ ABOUT THEIR DATE? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! CLICK ON THE REVIEW BUTTON AFTER YOU'VE READ IT, PLEASE: SAY ANYTHING YOU WANT ABOUT IT! I DON'T CARE IF YOU LIKED IT OR HATED IT. I JUST WANT HONEST OPINIONS ABOUT MY FIC, THANK YOU!

SO YOU THINK IT SUCKED? SAY IT, AND TELL ME ON WHAT I NEED TO WORK ON!


	18. Chapter 18

Between a routine of lessons, extra practices with Snape, studies and Head Girl duties, the few days passed by rapidly. It was now Halloween and she Hermione Granger, the Gryffindor's Golden girl, agreed to a date with Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Prince. At first, she wanted to refuse his asking her out, but didn't have the heart to. Malfoy's facial expressions told her a lot about what he felt for her. Ever since they've began to be friends, she noticed Malfoy cared for her a bit more than she cared for him. But what did she feel for him? Merely platonic friendship? Perhaps yes, perhaps something more. She wasn't sure about that anymore. But one thing she was certain of, was that he wanted something more from her and she wasn't ready to give him that just yet. And this morning, she was with Dumbledore and it was decided the Headmaster would take over Severus for her Legilimency/Occlumency lessons. When she asked why, Snape said it was because Draco knew about her nightly meetings with him. "_That sly fox_", thought Hermione. As to how he learnt about it, Snape told her it was two Ravenclaw girls gossiping about them dating while he was "patrolling" as a Head Boy. Hermione thought that maybe Draco would ask her about it at their date, so she told them all about it. Snape exclaimed:

"My Godson asked out on a date?"

"Yes, Sir. I wanted to say no, but I really didn't want to make him sad or heart-broken, so I agreed to it, but as friends only."

"I doubt he would be heart-broken, sad maybe, but not heart-broken about it if you refused him. But anyway, when he'll ask about it during your date, just say it's gossip and gossip isn't very reliable, as a source of information."

"You're absolutely right sir. But let's now talk about how to convince 'Lord Voldemort' to be 'Tom Riddle' again, that's what we're all here for." Hermione reminded them.

"Yes sorry, we've been a bit distracted by your first date with Mr. Malfoy."

"More than a bit, so, what do you propose for it?"

"After I've talked to Harry and Ron about it, I had some new ideas on how to sway Him from His first intentions. I'll talk to 'Lord Voldemort', as 'Tom Marvolo Riddle', once in His head. That way, He won't know it's me who's manipulating His feelings, thoughts and senses."

"Good thinking, Miss Granger."

"Who gave you the idea, Potter?" said Snape, not believing it came from her.

"No, actually it was Ron and I thought it was a brilliant way to hide myself from Him while in His mind."

"Yes, I agree, let's do it this way! But first, you'll need to see how He became 'Lord Voldemort', and I'll be sending you back in 1980 again for this. But not today, since it's Halloween. In 2 weeks from now."

"Why in 2 weeks?"

"To not arouse any suspicion in Draco Malfoy's anymore. If we do it on a daily basis, like we're doing now, he'll be more suspicious of you, and I. If we meet up every 2 weeks, however, it's going to give you more time to recover from your immersion into 'Lord Voldemort's mind and they won't be asking you anymore questions if you don't look so weary anymore."

"Yes you're right, Professor Dumbledore, sometimes I'll have a huge headache after going in His mind, and I often must go to Madam Pomfrey, and Draco's been asking me questions about that too. And I can't answer him honestly and it's been eating away at me."

"Yes true. So that's how we're going to do it: one per 2 weeks, and in my office, rather than Severus's study. And I'll be taking over things from now on, so Severus won't have to answer any questions concerning it either."

With her mind more in peace, after her talk with the Headmaster and Snape, she was preparing herself for her date with Draco in the Gryffindor's Prefects' bathroom as she didn't want everybody to know she had a date with him, her former enemy. Head Boys and Head Girls shared a bathroom with the Prefects.

But she couldn't decide on what to wear, and on if she should put on any make-up, beautifying potions. But she guessed Draco hated fake girls, so that's why he took a fancy to her, because she was natural and not fake. So unlike the Pure-blood Slytherin girls Draco was used to, she didn't over make herself up. She used a very pale eye-shadow, and some lip gloss to enhance her lips. And she didn't even use any magical beautifying Charms on her because she wished to prove to Draco that the Muggle way was just as good as the Magical way, and sometimes, even better than the Wizarding way. Hence why she decided to impress the Slytherin Prince with her Muggle ways, as she was, a Muggle-born after all. And really, anything more on her was superfluous and she wasn't as vain as the Slytherin girls Malfoy faced everyday. Musing about that, she said to her mirror: "Poor Draco." The Mirror said back to her:

"Yes poor him. You're looking just perfect now. I'm sure you'll impress him." Mirrors were magical in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and often spoke back to whoever who was looking at them.

"Do you think I'm ready for him?" Hermione asked the Mirror, uncertainly.

"Yes sure, you look more than stunningly gorgeous. Whoever it is that you're trying to impress." She got a bit annoyed at the Mirror once she asked herself why she was making a big fuss about going out with him as "friends." And she didn't know why either, she was preparing herself up for him. "_Maybe you do like him a bit in that way_." She answered herself in her mind. "No, I can't, I don't have the time to deal with romance just yet, I need to destroy 'Lord Voldemort' first." A more reasonable voice said in her. At last, after good while of pampering herself up, trying at least a dozen different hairstyles and more than 10 Halloween costumes, she thought she was ready for her date with Malfoy. It was Halloween after all, and she was allowed to disguise herself as whatever she liked. So she put on a Padme Amidala costume, because this was her favourite Muggle TV series of all time, and she wanted to be the Naboo Senator when she was little.

At 7 p.m., Draco was waiting for her in the Great Hall, to take her out in Hogsmeade. The Hermione he saw was out-of-the-ordinary and very unique. Nobody else in the Hall was dressed up like she was. And Draco gasped at her. And he too, was wearing some very fancy Wizard robes in Green and Silver, of course. And these colours made Draco's hair and face look even paler, and even more handsome. All the Slytherin girls were green with envy, jealousy and some hatred on their faces. But they didn't dare say anything in front of the teachers about them, as they didn't want to lose any Housepoints for it.

"Wow, you're gorgeous, Hermione." That was all Draco managed to say to her after a while of staring at her.

"Yes, and without magic, Draco. And you, you don't look too bad yourself." He didn't comment on that, although he wanted to. But this was going to make her upset with him, so he decided against it.

"So shall we go to the 3 broomsticks together?"

"Yes." And he took her hand in his, making those Pure-Blood girls's faces greener than ever. But he didn't care about any of them, he only thought of Hermione, his heart's desire.

In the 3 broomsticks, Hermione and Draco were talking. If he thought it was hard for him to talk to her at school, it was even more so for him on their date.

"So err, how have you been these days?"

"Yes, I've been fine, thank you. What do you want to drink, Draco?"

"Firewhiskey."

"Butterbeer for me."

As a waitress passed by their table, Draco ordered their drinks. Said waitress was ogling at him, and trying to flirt with him. Hermione didn't mind her doing that with Draco, since she was there as his friend only. But when a young waiter asked them if they wanted something more and was making eyes at Hermione, Draco got mad and didn't give him any tips.

"She's MY girl!" He just couldn't resist it when someone else was checking her out this way. Everyone in the Pub stared at them.

"Draco, calm down! Stop embarrassing me!"

"Embarrassing you?! When he's obviously been trying to flirt with you!"

"I don't want you to make a scene, please."

"Fine", he said sourly back to her. And he was this way, the whole evening.

When they got back to Hogwarts, he said to her:

"That waiter spoilt our date."

"Because you let him. He was just trying to be nice to his customers, that's all."

"No." said Draco obstinately.

"And anyway, I was only going on a date with you as a friend, I'm not your girlfriend yet!" She regretted saying this, as soon as she saw the hurt on Draco's face.

"You mean, you would never want to be my girlfriend?"

"No, I didn't mean that! Just that I really do have too much things going on in my life to even think of any boys that way, including Ron!"

"WHAT THINGS?"

"Nothing!"

"Obviously, you've been up to something with my Godfather, some Ravenclaws said so, now spill it all out!" Draco was beginning to get frustrated at her.

"Well, you've heard wrong, there isn't anything! It's just gossip, and how can you believe in rumours and such? Not a very reliable source of information, Draco!"

"Whatever!" And with that, they both went to bed. Draco was still thinking about the way he reacted in the Pub with the waiter, maybe he was just a wee bit too possessive, that was why Hermione didn't like it. And "why was she so defensive when I talked to her about my Godfather?" It was a night wasted for Draco who couldn't fall asleep, thinking about Hermione and his date with her. "_She is right, it's because I let the waiter ruin it for us! I won't do that again, on our next one! But would she accept to go on another one with me now that I've embarrassed her publicly?_"

But in addition to the date with Draco gone wrong, and her special tasks with Dumbledore, Hermione had to handle a very jealous Ron, who was exceedingly upset about her going on a date with Malfoy. He, like Malfoy, wasn't very diplomatic or tactful with girls, so he asked her straightforwardly, a few days after her date with Malfoy, after supper:

"So, how was it with Malfoy?"

"Not very good. He over-reacted when a waiter asked us if we wanted some more drinks."

"He likes you!" said Ron, and this time, he might be right about that, but Hermione refused to face Draco's feelings towards her, because she had other things to do.

"Yeah I know."

"How?"

"Because he asked me if I would ever consider being his girlfriend."

"And how did you answer him?"

"I told him I had other things to think about right now, and that I can't give him a straight answer. And that goes for you too, Ron!"

"Right." Hermione could tell he wasn't content with her answer, but Harry came to her rescue:

"She's right, Ron. Swaying 'Lord Voldemort's prejudices about Muggles and Muggle-borns should be our top priority now, not her love life, nor yours, nor mine."

"Yeah, mate, you're right." For some reason, Ron tended to listen to Harry more than Hermione. "_Maybe it's because they're all boys_."

Meanwhile, in the Slytherin Common Room, Draco was very pensive, and none too talkative. And this prompted the Greengrass sisters to ask him:

"Draco, why are you this way? Is something bothering you?"

"Yes, as you probably know, on Halloween's, I took Hermione on a date."

"And it didn't go too well, I suppose?" Astoria asked kindly, and Draco liked it that she didn't call Hermione any nasty names, so that was why he answered her as politely as he could:

"Yeah, she said I was an embarrassment to her!" But he forgot to tell her about the waiter's making eyes at her and his over-reaction to it, which was what made Hermione say this about him.

"That Mudblood bitch! I'll have a talk with her!" said Daphne, who also coveted Draco.

"NO DON'T, I don't want any of you to go and talk to her about it, okay? It was my fault, I over-reacted to a waiter's behaviour towards her in the 3 Broomsticks."

"Fine, but she is still a bitch!" Daphne shot back at him.

"No, she isn't! Stop calling her that!" Draco was now getting mad at Daphne's immaturity.

"Fine, but you'll deal with your love problems yourself, Draco!" It was Astoria.

He was proud of himself because he successfully changed the Greengrass sisters' minds about talking to Hermione about their date. He expressly forbade them to do this, and told them he wouldn't talk to any of them for 1 whole month, if any of them did.

For Hermione, after she set things straight with Ron on the romantic plan, it was time to go to the Headmaster's again. She found him writing something on his desk, "_Probably some staff paperwork_." Snape was absent, presumably busy with other teachers' work.

"Well, hello, Miss Granger, good evening. Before getting you back in time, I'd like to know what you know about 'Tom Riddle.'"

"The only thing I know about is he hates Muggles and Muggle-borns to the point of wanting them all dead as I've been inside His mind only once, Professor Dumbledore, sir."

"So, you've not been very far yet, and you've not tried to influence his thoughts and his feelings?"

"No, Professor Snape said you said I should only see it from His side of things, and not to rush things."

"Severus is right, of course. You shouldn't go too fast, and maybe there are some things you will not be able to stand, once in His mind."

"Yes, Professor. So what should I do now? Professor Snape and I thought I ought to try and influence His thoughts in the Present for now, and not in the Past. And Ron also said, I should pretend to be 'Tom Riddle', talking to 'Lord Voldemort'."

"Yes, I think that's a good idea, and by the end of December, in a little more than a month from now, we will try to sway His plans to make Horcruxes and to go after the Deathly Hallows."

"One thing I don't understand, is why does He need the Deathly Hallows?"

"I'm not very well-versed in these objects, myself, you'll find the answer once inside His mind." answered Dumbledore cryptically. And he sincerely didn't know anything about these items, only that the Wizard who owned them all was the "Master of Death". And he didn't know either, how these items were connected to the Horcruxes and that was why he need Hermione to unravel these mysteries for him.

"Right, so, I'll start now?"

"Yes, go ahead."

That was what Hermione saw once she was inside His mind:

'_Lord Voldemort' was sitting on a chair, and He was alone, without His Death-Eaters. He was saying to Himself: _

'"'_ll need the Souls in Potter's body now, and I'll need to go after the Deathly Hallows as well because I'll need the Resurrection Stone. I won't need the Elder Wand or the Invisibility Cloak because they're of no use to me. And why do I need the Resurrection Stone? To perform my Resurrection ritual to, for me to be in my former self's body, and not in this one. I hate this snake-like body of mine. I think I got this body instead because something went wrong when I made Nagini a Horcrux._"

"_No, if you didn't make the Horcruxes, you wouldn't have had this body of yours." 'Tom Riddle' was debating with Him._

"_But I had no other choice, Tom, this was the only way for me to have a full body and my goal to get my former self back."_

"_You had a choice." said Hermione as 'Tom Riddle' in His head. _

"_No, I didn't. And I need the Resurrection Stone now to have my former body back." _

"_No, the Ressurection Stone won't give your former body back! And it's only going to be temporary!"_

"_Why?" _

"_Because you've damaged your Soul beyond any repair." _This time, she let 'Tom Riddle' talk to Him about it."

"_The Horcruxes can give my real body back! And I'll need to get the 7 part of my Souls from Potter!" _

"_No, because you've split your Souls into 7, you cannot have your former body back. It's beyond repair. See, if you didn't make the 7 Horcruxes, you would have your body back, using the 3 Deathly Hallows together: the Elder Wand, the Ressurection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak. So yes, you will need to get all 3 of them first." said 'Tom'. _

"_Why?" _

"_To perform the 'Resurrection Ritual', you will need the 3 of them, not just the Ressurection Stone. " _

"_But before that, I'll need Potter, because I will need my Horcruxes and the Resurrection Stone, to get my old self back." _

"_No again, because your knowledge was incomplete about the Deathly Hallows and the Horcruxes, you thought the Resurrection Stone was needed when you made these Horcruxes, yet that was wrong, because you just needed the Deathly Hallows, to have your full body back. " _

"_But why can't I have my full body back now?"_

"_Because as I've said before, your Soul's been broken beyond any possible repair, and if your Soul were whole, you could easily use the 3 Deathly Hallows to have it back, without the Horcruxes! But you rushed into making these, upon learning you could store your Souls into a Horcrux, and retrieve them later on after your Death, using the Ressurection Stone on your Host. Yet you didn't know that a Soul must be whole, for you to get it in your old body." _

"_I can still make it whole again, after I've retrieved them from Potter, and after I've put them back in my body. _

"_No, you cannot, a damaged Soul cannot be brought back in your old body, that's why you got another one, with snake-like features, since you've used your pet Nagini as a Horcrux."_

'Tom Marvolo Riddle', Hermione found, knew more about this than her. And she was thinking about how she could use this knowledge to her advantage, when the Headmaster asked her to pull out from His mind:

"Pull out, pull out, NOW!" And she did as the Professor told her to.

"But why?"

"Because you're not breathing anymore!"

"So yeah, I've learnt He didn't really need the Horcruxes, but only the Deathly Hallows to have a complete body and that was why Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange could not revive Him in 1980 when they were in Albania."

"Exactly yes, you are very observant, Miss Granger. And you can use this newfound knowledge to convince Him to not make these Horcruxes, when you'll be in His past."

"When exactly did He make these things?"

"Ahhh, it was when He was at Hogwarts, when He was gaining followers and such, so I'll have to send you back in around 1943-1944 with the Time-Turner."

"And as 'Tom Riddle' said, He can't put the 7 Souls back into His old body, because it's been damaged by the Horcruxes, that was why he gained a new, snake-like body, because He used Nagini as one. But why did He make them then?"

"At that time, He didn't know the Horcruxes were going to do this to Him, He just knew He could use the Resurrection Stone with the Horcruxes to get Him His old self back. Yet the Resurrection Stone, as you've heard from Riddle, didn't work that way. To Resurrect one self and get one's body in his first life back, one needs all 3 objects to do this, and a Soul that is whole."

"And as Riddle pointed out, He couldn't get His old body back, because His soul wasn't whole anymore after being fragmented so much by His Horcruxes. But I think, He was blinded by His desire to immortality, so He made those right after He's heard about them. He thinks He can still get His former body back, if He got His 7 Souls out of Harry with the Resurrection Stone, but He can't use it now, because His Soul isn't fully complete."

"Correct, Miss Granger. And I believe you should tell Mr. Potter about this, because it's about him and he should know 'Lord Voldemort's is after him for His 7 souls."

"Yes, Headmaster. I've already told him all about the Horcruxes and he's dreamt about the Death Hallows, so all I'll need to tell him now is that 'Lord Voldemort' is after him, because He thinks He can get His body from His first life back, just by getting back the 7 Souls from Harry's body into His with the Resurrection Stone."

"But we will rewind back in time, when He made those Horcruxes, and try to convince Him not to, by telling Him that His body won't be whole even if He did use the Horcruxes and the Resurrection Stone after His fall in 1981, all the while trying to persuade Him to not start wars against the Muggles and that Muggles and Wizards can live together in peace. And please try to sound like 'Tom Riddle', as much as possible when you're going to do that." Dumbledore recommended.

"Agreed Sir."

That was a lot of knowledge for her to digest, and therefore she didn't have the time to think about Draco and their failed date or what she herself felt for Draco or Ron at this moment. "_I will have to deal with that later, when I'll be done with Dumbledore's special Mission for me. It's a lot easier that I have more knowledge, but of course, I'll try my best to dissuade Him from waging wars against Muggles and Muggle-borns and to sway His misconceptions about them."_

That seemed however, an impossible thing for Hermione. But at least, she had new information about Horcruxes and the Deathy Hallows and why He had been after Harry all this time. It was not because of the Prophecy, but because He made Harry his "Host" for His 7 Souls. And the Prophecy existed because of that only. She had the impression that, the answer to freeing Draco from his "Mock Dark Mark" was somehow linked to this too. And the blond Slytherin had not spoken to her since their Halloween date and was beginning to worry more and more about her mental health, since she was less eager in class and less competitive as well. But he thought it was because of their date gone wrong. So he thought about apologizing to her, but he didn't know how.

SO HOW DID YOU FIND MY CHAPTER? TOO LONG, TOO BORING OR WHAT? EXPRESS YOURSELF PLEASE! I'D LIKE SOME HONEST OPINIONS ABOUT THIS, THANK YOU! WHAT DO YOU WANT IN THE NEXT CHAPTERS?


	19. Chapter 19

On a beautiful and snowing December day, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco were all enjoying a snowball fight. Ever since the 3 agreed to be friends in the Summer, they tried to start anew and do things friends would do with each other, and though could not resist calling each other names and such. Hermione thought this was very immature of them and yet again, she tried to not be so judgemental of them and to understand everything from their point of view. "_Why are they doing this to each other when they could be just friends?_" She thought she understood boys since her now 3 best friends were all guys, but she really didn't and couldn't understand their obscure reasons for doing some things, for example, their calling each other names. Draco assured her it was all in good humour, but to her, Ron didn't seem to take it that way.

This was after her second incursion into the Dark Lord's mind, with Professor Dumbledore supervising her, not Snape. She now dreaded her meetings with Dumbledore, because this caused her migraines and headaches more often than ever. But she couldn't take too much rest, because it was near Christmas holidays and she chose to stay at Hogwarts this year, because of her special Mission. She wondered if Draco and Ron would stay at Hogwarts or go back home. Harry, she knew, was always in school during the Winter vacation. But this also meant for her, that she needed to study extra hard for her mid-terms. She couldn't believe it how time flew by so fast. She was so busy with homework and studying, that she often abused of her personal Time-Turner, to get extra hours for her studies. She took her studies as seriously as ever, because this would be determinant for her career in the magical world. Thinking about this, she was unsure about her chosen professional path. Was she to be an Auror like Harry or a Healer or a social worker? Or something more exciting perhaps? But Hermione didn't like excitements and thrills in life, and so she decided to settle on a more stable job : she would be a Healer. And luckily for her, she chose the right courses for this profession, because she was planning it all every since she got her admission letter from Hogwarts. She wasn't unsure like other students about their work lives. "But there are many branches in the Healing profession? Would I rather be a Herbologist, or a Healer for magical creatures?" She couldn't still quite decide between these, so she choose extra courses, just in case she changed idea about it.

And for 7th years like her, they were all going to pass their N.E.W.T.S in June, and if they failed, they had to repass their year. She was suddenly seized with the horrible vision of failing all her exams, and having to pass her graduating school year twice, that she forgot to breath.

"Breath, Hermione, you aren't going to fail, you've studied as hard as you could, these past months, even worrying your dearest friends to death." Again, it was her way of encouraging herself, and of not losing hope for everything.

One night after she finished patrolling the corridors with Draco, trying to catch any students up to some mischief, and after her vision about failing all her exams, she was starting to confide in him about her fears about not passing her N.E.W.T.S and all :

"You know Draco, it's our last year, and our N.E.W.T.S year, did you decide on a career yet?"

"Yeah, I want to work in the Ministry or to serve as a judge in the Winzengamot, you?" Draco was glad Hermione was telling him about her fears and everything else, it meant she trusted him a lot more than before. He was grinning. _"Maybe our friendship has taken into a whole other level? Maybe she'll start to like me romantically?" _He was hoping she did have some feelings for him, and at least, cared for him as more than a friend, after their disastrous date. He thought about apologizing to her for it, but as they were talking about their careers, he had no chance to.

"Me, I don't know. I want to work as a Healer."

"Did you decide in which branch of Healing?"

"No, not yet. I am unsure about it."

"That's so uncharacteristic of you, Hermione, to be unsure of what you want."

"Well, you know, there are just too many choices!"

"Is that why you took all these courses?"

"Yes, just in case I changed my mind about something, you know."

"You always worry about "what ifs" and "just in cases". And I just want to er, erm,apologize for spoiling our date on Halloween, if that's what's been bothering you these days…"

"Oh, don't worry about that! And you're apologizing about that, after what, a month or so?" Hermione said, with half a smile on her face.

"Yes, well, I'm not as courageous and noble as you guys in Gryffindor." said Draco, teasingly. And Hermione picked it up this time.

"Well, seeing as you are a plotting Slytherin, maybe you could help me with something."

"Yes what?"

"Some girls in Slytherin have been talking to me about you! Get them off my back!"

"What?! I told them not to talk to you about it as there's absolutely nothing going on between us."

"Are you sure?" said Hermione, sounding disappointed on purpose.

"Do you want there to be something?" asked Draco, hope in his silver-grey eyes.

"Yeah maybe."

"I never thought you were so naughty, Hermione. For Salazar's sake, you are in Gryffindor!"

"I think it's silly to judge anyone's by their School House; it's like categorizing them, and I don't like that. And I think there's a little bit of each House in every student at Hogwarts. Maybe, I sound mad to you—"

"No you don't, actually, you're right about the Houses. I feel the same as you." added Draco quickly.

"Really?" asked Hermione in disbelief. She found talking to Draco very entertaining in truth now and discovered he shared some of her views with her, and she quite frankly, liked that about him. She thought he was more mature than Harry or Ron when he wasn't pushed by those two to act like an immature spoiled brat. "_Maybe it's got to do with being in a family like the Malfoys'." _She thought.

"Yes, really." And that ended their conversation that night, as it was already too late for either of them to talk. So they went to bed, glad about their teamwork as Head Boy and Head Girl. In his bed, Draco cursed himself for not saying anything about her nightly meetings with his Godfather. He promised himself he would, in the next days, during their Christmas vacation. He was surprised he didn't get anything from his Mother yet, usually, at this time of the year, she would send him a little something as a gift. And so he wrote an owl to his Mother, asking her how she was at Grimmauld's Place. And she returned it in some days, by saying everything was fine, and Lupin had toned down his blameful and unfounded accusations towards her, all because Mrs. and Mr. Weasley's were there for him and helped him when he was still grieving for his dead fiancee. And it was more bearable for her in her Mother's parents' House. She said also it was funny for her, to be in her childhood's home again, after so many years, and she remembered something about Andromeda Tonks while looking at their burnt family tree.

As for Hermione, she occupied herself by either working on essays late at night, or doing unnecessary revising during these 2 weeks before her mid-term exams. She truly and really hoped she would not fail anything. She was praying silently, to herself : "_Please, father Santa or anyone up there, don't let me fail anything. That's all I want for Christmas." _

But unknown to her, she was about to discover something more terrible than her failing her mid-terms, in the Headmasters' room, as usual, twice per week, in the second week of December.

"Headmaster, I think it's now time for me to go into His past, and to uncover why He made the Horcruxes and to try and change His plans about making them."

"I don't think so, Miss Granger, I think you should just try and pry into His thoughts, once more, and then, as discussed with Severus, by the end of December, you'll do that."

"Why so slow?"

"Because it's going to be dangerous and risky for you. Although, you're a trained Legilimens and Occlumens now, under Severus's careful tutelage, you should just hone your skills once more time, before. See it as you practicing these 2 arts once more."

"You're afraid I'd fail, Professor? I thought you had unwavering faith in me!" She said, outraged.

"Calm yourself down, it's for safety measures. After all, practice makes perfect. Wasn't that a Muggle saying?" Dumbledore's question wasn't a question, he merely wanted confirmation from Hermione.

"Yes Sir, I understand. And by the way, how's Professor Snape? I haven't seen much of him these days, except for my Defence against the Dark Arts classes with him and all?"

"He's been fine and in excellent health and spirits, I'll tell him you asked about him. We haven't got any time to waste for now, you'll need to go into His mind again to polish your skills in these 2 Arts."

"Yes right. So let's do it?" said Hermione, waiting for his permission to begin.

"Yes, go right ahead."

What she saw in His mind horrified her :

_He was sitting in usual chair, playing with His pet snake Nagini and talking to His Death-Eaters, well, the remaining ones, not caught in Azkaban. _

"_Well, Macnair, always up for a Muggle or Muggle-filth cleansing?" _

"_Yes, my Lord." _

"_Which ones should we torture and torment, Macnair?" _

"_Well, my Lord, if I may—" interrupted Lestrange. _

"_No, you may not, Rodolphus, you already got your reward." _

"_But my sister-in-law is still alive and well, I want her dead for putting my wife into Azkaban!" said an enraged Lestrange. _

"_It wasn't anyone's fault, but her niece's, she's the one who died to save her. It should be enough punishment for her. And if she had an ounce of humanity in her, she couldn't live with herself knowing she caused her half-blood niece's death." This was 'Lord Voldemort's' final words to Lestrange, and He dismissed him from the unfamiliar room. Lestrange went away, still wanting full vengeance for his wife : Bellatrix Lestrange. _

"_I'm glad he's out of my way, he's been a rather faithful servant, but now I have no need for him anymore, particularly because he's been half-functioning since his dear wife's imprisonment. I didn't know my most devoted Death-Eater could feel love." _

"_So, my Lord, about cleansing the School of Muggle-borns? When are we going to do it?" _

"_Patience, Macnair. The best time is during the Winter vacation." _

"_Why then, and not now?" 'Lord Voldemort didn't like it when anyone was asking Him questions. _

"_Because many Half-bloods and Mudbloods will be there, either not wanting to go home or they don't have a home to go to, like me, when I was a student at Hogwarts. It was my home. And Potter will be there too, I'm sure." _

"_Why do you need Potter, my Lord?" _

"_Macnair, you are dismissed for now." _

"_Yes my Lord." said Macnair before getting out of His sight. _

Hermione, shaken back to reality by Dumbledore, her head swirling with dizziness, and she didn't know how to tell Dumbledore about His plans to attack Hogwarts' Muggle-borns and to abduct Harry during the Christmas and New Year vacation.

"Miss Granger, are you all right? What have you seen?"

"Sir, please alert Hogwarts' Staff and House-Elves, He's going to attack the Castle soon!" She blurted out.

"And when is soon?" asked Dumbledore, in a more serene composure than her. She didn't know how he could keep himself so level-headed in such an urgent situation as this one.

"During the Christmas Holidays, I don't know exactly when, He hasn't said anything about it. You were too quick to pull me out from His mind."

"There's no need to alarm the students, as they have a lot on their plates already and such. The only thing to do now is to have a solid counter-attack plan."

"But sir, didn't Hogwarts have Wards and Charms and such to protect it against such attacks?"

"Yes, but they won't hold if the Dark Magic used is too powerful. I'm sure His Death-Eaters know a lot of Dark spells, that even you, as a Seventh year student, don't know."

"And this is why I think Draco and Narcissa and the Order could be useful. They know more about Dark Magic than we, a bunch of students do."

"Don't forget, there's also Hogwarts' staff here, they're all highly skilled duelists. And if we're going to ask Draco and his Mother for help, you'd better tell him everything if he asks you how you got the information."

"We need all the help we can get, Professor."

"You're right, of course, Miss Granger. I'll write a letter to the Order right away."

And that night, after being in His Mind, she couldn't fall asleep, afraid she might have nightmares about it. So she stayed wide awake, thinking about 'Lord Voldemort's' evil plans to torture the Muggle-borns in the School.

As for some of the Slytherin students, they yelped in pain as their Dark Mark burned in their Common Room. And they knew, it was their Lord' calling to them. And Draco's Mock Dark Mark, hurt more than others', it scorched him much that he was scratching his arm, and making it bleed. "If Hermione saw me like this, she would be more motivated to free me from His chains, completely. But this is a far off dream for me. Although, I am an ex-Death-Eater now, I am still chained to Him."

"Zabini, you're feeling it too?" asked Nott.

"Yes, I was foolish enough to get it in my 5th year, like you. Now we are delusioned Death-Eaters, wanting to be free from Him."

"Yes, we thought He would bring us glory, and He would preserve the Pure-blood's traditions. We were wrong in this, we were all impressionable and gullible and naive youths back then, when our parents decided our fates. But now, I say we all defy Him and refuse to answer His call!"

"We can't do that! He would punish our parents and our family if we did this!"

"But I'm going to fight for the Light side, along side the rest of Hogwarts." said Nott with resolution in his voice.

"I don't care, my whole family is in Hogwarts, He can't touch them." said Daphnee Greengrass, her big sister Astoria was her only family, they were raised by their maternal grandparents, who died last year.

"And my parents can defend themselves against Dark Magic better than I can, since they were both ex-Death-Eaters." said another Slytherin male.

Some in Slytherin agreed with this, some didn't say anything about it, and some still hanged to their idealized misconception about their Lord. Draco, afraid they might alert their Dark Lord in some way or another, talked to Hermione about this, the day after he felt his Mock Mark's stinging pain.

"Hermione, I have something to tell you about! It's urgent!" He said after he whisked her away in a private corner, after Potions.

"Yes, is it about what I'm thinking right now?"

"What have you got right now? Spit it out! We've got no time to lose!" She noted the urgency in his voice.

"Well, Prof. Dumbledore and I know You-know-who's going to attack Hogwarts and is planning to 'cleanse the School of Muggle-borns!' "

"How—?"

"Don't ask, it's a long story. Just know that I've been trained to be inside His mind to uncover His secrets and everything and to stop Him from making His horcruxes and everything. Now we need your help, well, yours and your Mother's, would you help us?"

"Merlin, Hermione, you want my help but you won't tell me everything! Some friend you are!"

"No time to get pissy about it, Draco! It's for the whole School's sake! So, will you help us or not?"

"Yes, I will contact Mother for you and ask here to come here, since she owes you all her life. She knows how to defend herself very well against Dark Magic."

"Well, particularly since she was a Death-Eater before your father's life-sentence in Azkaban."

"No, she was forced to be one, by my Father, against her will, like me."

"And does she have the "Mock Dark Mark?"

"No. And anyway, I didn't want to talk about that with you for now. Some of us knew about His plans to strike on the Castle, because our Dark Mark burnt one night."

"And?" asked Hermione, impatient to know more.

"Well, after that, some Slytherins wanted to fight against the Dark Side, and some didn't. I'm afraid they will inform the Dark Lord about it."

"About what and how?"

"About the other Slytherins' betrayal and as to how, by their Dark Mark. It's used for Death-Eaters to communicate with each other too."

"And now you're telling me that!"

"Didn't you tell me : no time to get angry about that? Well, that goes for you too." Draco patronized her.

"Fine, I'm sorry. But the Dark Lord also wants Harry."

"As to be expected, nothing exceptional." Draco commented on that.

"Snape." She suddenly said, as if it was a stroke of genius.

"What about him?" asked Draco, puzzled.

"He can help prevent the rest of the Slytherins from going to the Dark Lord, since he should know how the Dark Mark works."

"How come I haven't thought about my Godfather? He is one of the most versed in the Dark Mark's knowledge. But he must be sneaky about it."

"Aren't you both Slytherins? Plotting, scheming and etc? I'm sure you'll come up with something, after discussing with him." said Hermione mischievously.

"Yes, Hermione. I'll talk with him."

Some days after he discussed with Hermione about it, he thought she knew more than she let on. "No time to think about that, I'll ask her about everything else _after_ His attack on Hogwarts." He was saying this to himself as he was walking towards his Uncle Sev's dungeons.

"Hello Draco, pleasure to have you there."

"No time for pleasantries. Uncle Sev. There's going to be an attack on Hogwarts' students soon."

"Yes I know. The Mark right?" Snape answered, as if this explained everything.

"Yes the Mark. I came here to tell you about some Slytherins' decisions to fight against the Dark Lord!"

"Foolishness! Don't they know their parents and family will be hurt if they did that?" asked Snape, interiorly concerned about his students, as the Head of Slytherin House.

"Yes they know, but some still want to do it despite this."

"There's something more you're not telling me?"

"Well, some others aren't so keen on helping the Light side, so I'm scared they will go and alert Him via their Dark Mark. And I want you to find a way to stop them from doing that. You are the most knowledgeable about it amongst us, after all, Uncle Sev."

"Yes I'll take care of it, I know of a way, don't you worry about it."

"Thank you."

After Draco told him about the Slytherins' situation, his Godfather asked him about his relationship with Hermione. He answered it was better, and said he thought she liked him better than Potter and Weasley, but it was only his perceptions of her feelings towards him. He then went to write a letter to his Mother, as promised to Hermione, and in which he asked her if she would come and help Hogwarts. His Mother answered positively in her return owl after a day.

Please comment, thank you!


	20. Chapter 20

Snape did as Draco told him too : he Disabled all the Slytherins' Dark Marks, and even jinxed their owls so they couldn't send any messages to Lord Voldemort. As he didn't know who agreed to help the Light side and who didn't, he did so on of all his students' owls and Marks. He alone knew the way, because he was an ex-Death-Eater, as Hermione pointed out to Draco.

So to Draco's surprise, when he wanted to send a letter to Narcissa, his owl went berserk too. He didn't know how to cure his owl, so he brought her to Madam Pomfrey's, as did several other Slytherin students.

As to Hermione, Dumbledore gave her a week off her special duties about "Lord Voldemort", because she had to pass her mid-terms. There wasn't any time for her to relax and have fun however, she worked her ass off for her mid-terms, rarely speaking to either Harry, Ron or even Draco. This worried her 3 best male friends. But she felt Draco worried more about her than Harry or Ron did. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on her part.

But as Draco was in the infirmary, now, talking to Madam Pomfrey about his owl, Hermione came in as well, due to her vision being blurred at times.

"So Madam Pomfrey, what's happened to my owl?"

"Seems it's a jinx or a hex or something, to make owls and other animals berserk. I don't know what's to be done about him, I've never seen something like this in my whole career. And besides, I'm not specialized in Care of magical Creatures or pets." answered Madam Pomfrey honestly.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" asked Draco, pleasantly surprised.

"I just wanted to ask Madam Pomfrey about my vision getting blurred at times, nothing major, I'll let you finish before seeing her. Something the matter with your owl?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, he's been jinxed or hexed, according to Madam Pomfrey, I don't know what's gone over to him, but he won't send any letter to my mother."

"Didn't you ask Snape to do something about the Slytherins' going to the Dark Lord yesterday?"

"Yeah, and what's that got to do with anything?"

"Well, Snape might have done something to their owls, as well. And that's why yours is berserk right now."

"Hermione, you're brilliant! Well, Madam Pomfrey, I'll be going, thank you for your help."

"Miss Granger, what can I do for you?" after Draco was gone from the hospital wing.

"Well, you see, I can't see very well these days, can you make my vision clearer?"

"What do you mean, exactly, by you 'can't see very well'?'"

"Sometimes, when I'm reading and such, my vision will blur."

"Well dear, I might be able to do something for you."

"Really, what?"

"There's a spell to clear one's vision, but remember, Miss Granger, it's only going to last only 4-5 days."

"How come you didn't cure Harry's short-sidedness then?"

"Because he doesn't know it could be cured and so he never asked me. Let me." Madam Pomfrey said. With a wand movement, she cast an unknown spell on Hermione's eyes, and instantly, she could see more clearly. And then she asked her for something about her headaches and migraines. Madam Pomfrey gave her a draught for that.

"What was that about Professor Snape and the Slytherin students?"

"Well, do you know Hogwarts's getting attacked soon by You-know-who?"

"Yes, Dumbledore informed the Hogwarts' staff about it, a few days ago at a Staff's meeting."

"Great, so yeah, Professor Snape was charged by Draco to thwart some Slytherins' plans to tell Voldemort about the other Slytherins' want to betray him."

"I never knew some Slytherins could show such courage." said Madam Pomfrey, with admiration for these students in her voice.

"Me neither. And although we don't know exactly on which date he's going to strike, we know it's going to be during the Christmas holidays."

"Some way to spoil the students' vacation."

"Yes. Well, I'll be back to my studies, Madam Pomfrey, thank you for the quick fix."

On top of Hogwarts' "surprise" attack to worry about, she had to mind her studies. For one week, just before Christmas and New Years' eve, she studied in the library every day and night, hoping she would not fail anything. But she was always thinking about : "_what if I failed? And Draco got top marks?_" However, she didn't care so much about beating Draco anymore, but because they were so competitive against each other in the past 6 years, it was hard for both of them to let go of their old habits. Once again, the old Muggle adage proved to be true : "Old habits die hard." But Hermione, rather than just for the sake of beating Draco in every class, was inspired by him and pushed by him to never underestimate herself and to go further with herself. Draco even congratulated her once in front of the whole class, when she got Housepoints for Gryffindor in History of Magic. Only she knew by heart everything beforehand, since she made an effort to memorize everything the night before the lesson.

It was finally time for her exams. Each morning, during one week, every student in Hogwarts, not only her or the 7th years, went into the examination rooms, with anti-cheating quills. Each noon she and other students went back to the Great Hall for lunch, everyday, it was a feast for them, since they needed more energy than ever to pass their exams well. And each evening, she crammed in with other Gryffindors like Ginny, the Patil twins, Harry and Ron and etc. Each of them tested each other before the exam day.

"Hermione, I think it's no use to study anymore, you know every single thing by heart." said Ginny.

"What if I suddenly forget everything during the exam?"

"You won't, you've studied enough already."

"Yeah, Ginny's right. I'm going outside for a stroll. You have to think about your health too." agreed Harry and Ron. Hermione, encouraged by her friends, went outside for some fresh air too. This was before the DADA mid-term. As usual, she was afraid she might fail it, and as always, her friends and other housemates told her she won't. She wondered if Draco was studying as hard as she did. "_Probably yes." _

And this ordeal was over for her, after the exams. She felt completely empty after that. And Draco she saw, during the exams, was also paler, and often frowned as he was sitting right across her, during several of them.

At last, Christmas came, after her stressful 10 days in a row of exams, each morning and each afternoon, only pausing for lunch break. It was thus for each and every student in Hogwarts. Everybody sighed in relief after it.

But what the rest of the study body don't know about, was the attack on Hogwarts's Muggle-borns during the vacation, planned by Lord Voldemort. Luckily for some, they were going safely home to their parents. And more often than not, some Wizarding houses were protected by some powerful wards and spells, and charms, such like the Fidelius Charm and others. But some others were not so lucky, like Harry, they had to stay at Hogwarts, because their relatives mistreated him or didn't want them home. Draco too, was staying at Hogwarts, for the other students' sake. And his Mother and the Order of the Phoenix came too, after getting the owls from Draco and Dumbledore.

In the Great Hall, under every students' and teachers' watchful eyes, Narcissa Malfoy, the day she came to Hogwarts, hugged Harry, Ron, Hermione and her son as if they were long-time friends. She was still feeling quite lonely in Grimmauld's place, Draco learnt when he asked about her.

"Hello, Mrs. Malfoy, how have you been, long time no see, Merry Christmas to you!" Hermione greeted her.

"Hello Dear, Merry Christmas to you too, how were the exams and how have you been?"

"It was, pretty good, I think." said Hermione, not so confidently.

"And you Draco, what about yours?"

"It was fine, Mother. I expect to get 'Os' in everything." Draco was bragging again about himself, and Hermione "humfed" at him.

The whole school was abashed, to find Mrs. Malfoy so amiable to the Golden Trio, and the Slytherins were consternated by her seemingly odd behaviour, because they didn't know what happened between them in their summer. Some gasped at that, some were silent and minded their own business.

"Is there somewhere more private for us to talk about, you-know-what?"

"Yes, Narcissa. Come to the dungeons with me, all of you." offered Snape immediately.

And they followed him there. Harry and Ron were never once invited to the Dungeons by Snape, it was odd for them. All the while going there, they were wondering what in Merlin's name they were talking about.

"So Mione, please fill us in about you-know-what." asked Ron.

"Well, Hogwarts' is going to be attacked by Death-Eaters and the Dark Lord himself, Potter, Weasley." answered Snape for her.

"How do you know?"

"Because I can see inside His mind now, and I've been inside His head for a second time, after learning about His horcruxes and why He couldn't use the Death Hallows to get a fully functioning body right now." This was some shocking news for Draco.

"You can see inside His mind, how?" Draco asked, stunned.

"With Legilimency. Your Godfather and Dumbledore have been tutoring me in this." She answered this time.

"And why didn't you bother telling me this when I asked you about it?" Draco asked, looking sincerely hurt.

"Because I couldn't back then!"

"Draco, it's not the time nor the place for that, Dear." said Narcissa, admonishing him, and he seemed to listen to her.

"Right Mother, I'm sorry." But Hermione could tell he was still unhappy about not being told about it.

"Do you have any counter-plans and such?" asked Narcissa.

"Yes, we will first rely on the Wards and Charms, after that, if these fail Hogwarts, we still have the Statuses and the Ghosts to help us, and if they still get pass them, we will have to fight them. But I trust the Wards and such will hold for a while before any student notices." said Dumbledore. Narcissa disapproved of this.

"You know they have Greyback the werewolf, Mcnair, Dolohov and Lestrange and other Death-Eaters on the loose?"

"Yes we know. But I trust Fluffly will do a nice job, against Fenrir."

"Fluffly! Are you mad, Dumbledore, he is only a dog, and he a werewolf?"

"I trust in Fluffy." said Harry.

"Boy, you are way too naive if you think Fluffy could stand a chance against Fenrir!"

"Don't underestimate him. I've known him for years." argued Dumbledore.

"Fine, do as you say. I wash my hands off it, if anything goes wrong with the 3 headed dog!"

"Narcissa, trust in Dumbledore." said Snape, after they were done talking about the plans against Lord Voldemorts' attacks. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all went back to the Gryffindor's Tower and Dumbledore headed back to his office.

"Trust in him! When he's obviously senile and too old for these things! Why didn't Hogwarts fire him as a Headmaster, I don't know!" Draco shared his Mother's point of view on the old Headmaster.

"Don't be so pessimistic about it, Narcissa, Fluffy is a trained dog, and with Hogwarts' Ghosts help, we might not need to fight ourselves." Snape and Narcissa argued about this all Christmas. Then she remembered not sending her son his Christmas gift, so after arguing with Snape, she sent her son his Christmas present and she sent a package to Hermione, Harry and Ron as well, but she didn't sent any to other Weasley family members, because she wasn't familiar with them yet.

"I got something from Mrs. Malfoy!" said Ron, astonished.

"Me too!" said Harry.

"Me as well!"

"What's the commotion about?" Ginny went checking on them, after she stuffed herself full of Christmas food and desserts, like every other students in Hogwarts, not only the Gryffindors.

"Mrs. Malfoy gave us presents for Christmas!"

"Why not to me?"

"Maybe because she doesn't know you that well, Gin."

And then after a memorable Christmas, and it was time to celebrate the New Year's. No other students, except for Harry, Hermione, Draco and Ron, and the rest of the Slytherin House knew about the attack on the Castle's Muggle-borns. This was a weight on their minds. And when other students asked about it, they just brushed it off as having "Christmas blues", not wanting to spoil their holidays and to alarm them about it. For this New Year, Hogwarts's House-elves outdid themselves for the decorations and the evening feast and such. It was an amazing feast for the eyes, and an even more amazing New Years' foods : Yorkshire pudding, Irish pudding, exotic magical dishes from other countries such as France, Norway, Scotland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany and etc. Every students stuffed themselves full, until they could eat no more and until their bellies hurt, unaware of what Lord Voldmort's got in store for the Mudbloods and Half-bloods in the school. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco and the Staff pretended to enjoy themselves as much as the other students did.

And one January day, after the New Years' celebrations, the Death-Eaters and Voldermort Himself got in Hogwarts, with internal help from some Slytherins, namely : Pansy Parkinson, Crabe and Goyle. They got in the Slytherins' Common Room first, some welcomed them with open arms, but some others were ready to fight them, like Draco.

"Draco, I see you've been well since your Father's imprisonment in Azkaban!" taunted Lord Voldemort derisively, and made his Mock Dark Mark sting. The blond Slytherin didn't grace Him any answer.

"I'll spare the rest of you, if you give me Draco, the blood traitor!" said Lord Voldemort.

"Over my dead body!" said Nott, putting himself in front of his childhood friend and his former sidekicks, as Crabe and Goyle were trying to seize him. Some Slytherins who decided to fight for the Light, were trying to escape from the Common Room, and to go to Snape but His Death-Eaters were guarding the Common Room's exit. But Draco, not totally helpless himself, communicated mentally with his Godfather, since his "aunt" Bellatrix trained him in Legilimency too. "_Uncle, Sev, please help, in the Slytherin Common Room, NOW!_"

Snape was enjoying some wine with the rest of the staff and Narcissa, heard him in his mind. "Quick, Dumbledore, Narcissa, Minerva, my Godson is in danger!"

"You mean, He is here?"

"I don't know, but Draco's called me to his rescue."

"Well, you're not going alone, we're going with you."

"Thank you, everyone for my Godson."

And they all ran to Slytherin's Common Room at top speed, Snape got the password for them. When Lord Voldemort saw them in said room, he was cackling evilly. He already had some of the "blood traitors" and His Death-Eaters were having fun with them. And some of His Death-Eaters went around Hogwarts' ground, and were torturing some Muggle-borns who were outside of the Castle, not in their respective Common Rooms.

"Ah, Severus, Narcissa, how touching! So you want Draco back? Then beg for his mercy!" said the Dark Lord.

"I'm not going to beg for my Son's mercy, my Lord." replied Narcissa, with foolish bravery. Her wand was at the ready.

"You dare to challenge me?" He asked her.

"Yes, My Lord." Lord Voldemort now began duelling Narcissa and Snape simultaneously. Since Snape was a skilled Legilimens, he could predict everyone of His next moves, so he animated wandlessly and non-verbally, some objects to life and he put them between Draco, Narcissa and his former Master, to protect them from His killing Curse, Voldemort's "Avada Kedevra" hit the objects, instead of them. Narcissa, recovering from her shock, immediately did the same as Snape did, but for other "blood traitors" like her son in Slytherin. Dumbledore could also foresee what He planned to do next, so he ordered Minerva and Flitwick to go and protect Harry, since Voldemort was going to send some of His Death-Eaters to kidnap the unsuspecting and unprepared Harry in the Gryffindors' Common Room. A Gryffindor, under the Imperius Curse and torture, revealed their password to His Death-Eaters, the same was happening to all the other Houses. And the Headmaster dispatched some of his staff to go in the school grounds, and Lupin, Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley were assigned to check on the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs.

When Minerva and Flitwick got in the Gryffindor's common room, they saw some of the students were already either Stunned or Petrified by Petrificus Totalus and other Stunning spells. "Thank Merlin they're not dead." But before they could do anything for them, the Death-Eaters, already there, challenged them to a duel. Minerva Transfigured some Death-Eaters into birds and they flew out of the window, and Flitwick sent some out of the window, using some Levitating Charms. After they triumphantly got rid of the Dark Lord's followers, they worked on breaking the Stunning spells on the Gryffindor students. When Minerva and Flitwick were done with the Gryffindors and Harry, Minerva went to see how Lupin, Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley were doing with the Ravenclaws and Flitwick how Sprout was doing in the Hufflepuffs' Common Room. Mcgonagall saw some Ravenclaws were only slightly injured, no one died or anything. But it was worse with the Hufflepuffs, some were hit by the Killing Curse such as Susan Bones, Hannah Abott, were all killed because they were Muggle-borns. The Death-Eaters showed them no mercy, and although Susan and Hannah and other Hufflepuff's Muggle-borns duelled them with bravery, they still couldn't stand a chance against them, as they used unknown Dark spells on them, torturing them at first, then when they got over their fun, killed them mercilessly. Lupin, Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were trying their best to fight them, but were overcome with grief over the students' sudden deaths. But with Mcgonagall help, no other HufflePuffs got killed. And the Death-Eaters were gotten rid of, some way or another, by Hogwarts' teachers or 6th or 7th year students.

While Professors Mcgonagall and Flitwick were helping Lupin and Ron's parents with the Hufflepuffs, Dumbledore was having a one-one duel with Lord Voldemort. As both were skilled Legilimens, both could, just with their Will, cast wandless and non-verbal spells and predict each others' moves, and without hitting each other. Lord Voldemort was shielding Himself with some powerful Charms, now Dumbledore Summoned some objects to life, using the same Spell as Snape did with Narcissa and Draco.

For Draco, it was spectacular to see his Headmaster duelling, as he never really saw him duel with his Father's Master, and he now esteemed him as a wizard, before, he always thought he was an old fool and a bit off his rocker, like his Mother and Father did about him. It was a draw between Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort, Draco could see. And Lord Voldemort, tired of playing games with his former teacher, said :

"Well, always nice to see you in shape, Dumbledore. I'll be going now."

"And you, Tom, a coward, as always."

And some of the students, who were outside, during Hogwart' battle, got either Stunned or Petrified, were all admitted in the Hospital wing, for a few days and the House-elves and Madam Pomfrey treated them. Ron was frantic about his little sister, Hermione and Harry stood by him, as Ginny got treated after being hit by an unknown Dark Curse. The Greengrass sisters and other Slytherins stayed in the Hospital Wing for about a week, after the Dark Lord's invasion in their Common Room.

There was a grand funeral for the Hufflepuff's Muggle-borns, such like Susan Bones and Hannah Abott. Dumbledore made a speech about how brave they were in the battle, even though they were Hufflepuffs. He was saying to the students :

"Don't cry for them. But remember them for their bravery, and work with the Light Side to help us win over the Dark, so no one else needs to die this way or this young." Their parents came, and despite Dumbledores' telling them to not cry, they did shed abundance of tears. After all, they were their children. Other students gave them their condolences, and told them how brave they were, protecting some younger students from harm with their lives. They were the heroes and heroines for Hogwarts' battle, not Hermione, Harry or Ron for a change.

Nobody was in the mood for studying in January, not even Hermione, who was overzealous about her studies before that. She was heart-broken for Hannah's and Susans' parents and other students' family. Harry, Ron, Draco, understood this too and gave her some personal space and time to grieve about them, although they weren't close friends with the Hufflepuffs or anything. And one night, the Headmaster summoned her to his office. She thought this was very insensitive of him.

"Sir, I hope it's not about me going into Lord Voldemort's mind and past again, because I don't have the heart to do it, not after what happened to the Hufflepuffs."

"Hermione, I am here to talk to you about it. I understand you're grieving for them, and your compassion for their parents' suffering. Although I don't have any child myself, I know a parent's pain when his or her child dies. But alas, it's all part of life."

"How can you take it so calmly?"

"When you're going to get to my age, you're going to understand, death is a part of life too. They died to protect other students, so other parents would not suffer the same fate as theirs. But I want you to think about going into Lord Voldemort's past and mind again, to end this war against Muggle-borns, once and for all."

"Maybe you're right, Sir, about death being a part of life. However, I saw their parents' tears and my heart is aching for them."

"If you can't get over this quickly, how are you to go on about the rest of your Mission? If you want no more students to die, then you should move on about their deaths. I am going to give you the rest of January to mourn about them, and to think things through about it by yourself. Come and see me when you'll be ready."

Hermione couldn't understand how he could be this cold. "Did this not affect him too?" But she couldn't see Dumbledore's tears for his students, in his private office, when he was alone. Then after some deep thinking, she started to see it his way. "If I don't get my Mission done quickly, more students might die because of me."

If you want to read the rest, R&amp;R please!


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